Earth’s Inner Core May Have Started Spinning Other Way: Study
Phys.org | Jan. 24, 2023 | Daniel LawlerDeep below the surface, the Earth’s inner core may have changed direction, new research suggests.
Far below our feet, a giant may have started moving against us.
Earth’s inner core, a hot iron ball the size of Pluto, has stopped spinning in the same direction as the rest of the planet and might even be rotating the other way, research suggested on Monday.
Roughly 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) below the surface we live on, this “planet within the planet” can spin independently because it floats in the liquid metal outer core.
Exactly how the inner core rotates has been a matter of debate between scientists—and the latest research is expected to prove controversial.
What little is known about the inner core comes from measuring the tiny differences in seismic waves—created by earthquakes or sometimes nuclear explosions—as they pass through the middle of the Earth.
Seeking to track the inner core’s movements, new research published in the journal Nature Geoscience analyzed seismic waves from repeating earthquakes over the last six decades.
The study’s authors, Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of China’s Peking University, said they found that the inner core’s rotation “came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction”.
“We believe the inner core rotates, relative to the Earth’s surface, back and forth, like a swing,” they told AFP.
“One cycle of the swing is about seven decades”, meaning it changes direction roughly every 35 years, they added.
They said it previously changed direction in the early 1970s, and predicted the next about-face would be in the mid-2040s.
The researchers said this rotation roughly lines up with changes in what is called the “length of day”—small variations in the exact time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis.
“2023 BU” has your name on it….
Don’t Panic. Okay, Panic.
We may need KJP to put the right spin on this.
Where’d my HHGTTG comment go?
It was along the lines of
“Don’t Panic. Okay, Panic”
Cover of the latest edition of the HHGTTG
According to MAGA the inner core of the Earth is, has been, and always will be spinning to the right.
The Founders looking at the current state of America and spinning in their graves
Yo momma’s so fat, when she goes dancing her gravity field makes the Earth’s core spin backward.
Bob’s research on toilet bowl swirls went too far.
TMI about down under.
Earth’s Inner Core: Parry! Dodge! Spin!
Friar Tuck: (Inserts twig into spinning core)
Earth’s Inner Core: (Spins opposite direction)
THWACK!
Wash cycle is done…entering rinse cycle…please remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop..
Since the earth is flat, when it spins backwards does it say, “Paul is Dead?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, dire references to Climate Change in three … two … one…”
…not as weird as Taco Cat spelled backwards is Taco Cat.
Taco Cat backwards is taC ocaT,
But racecar backwards is racecar.
I digress….
No one expects the counterspinning Spanish Inquisition.
The Indianapolis 500 will become “Hit the gas and turn right.”
That’d be the 005 ydnI.
True dat
Only time to really worry is if it starts doing the Hokey-Pokey.
Per Hank Johnson, this is unintended consequences of putting 1000s of Marines on Guam!
String theorist: It’s attached to that big finger, yo. Yo.
Somewhere a lost dung beetle says “Dang it, was almost there”, turns and runs.
Is there nothing that global warming can’t do!