Bronte wrote: > I've read other places that the earth is slowing losing its magnetism (nothing mainstream here, but private "unapproved" scientists have been saying so). Maybe that's related to the kilogram thing somehow.
Judy wrote: But why would it be affecting only that single kilogram measure? Why would it be "drifting apart" from the others? Bronte: I see your point. I have absolutely no idea. Judy wrote: Actually, that the earth is losing its magnetic field *is* mainstream; see this article on CNN.com from 2003: http://tinyurl. com/yzfv Apparently the loss has been measured since 1945. Bronte: Didn't know that. Thanks! You seem quite scientifically informed, Judy. Do you do work in science for a living? Judy wrote: The "fringe" aspect has to do with what the loss *means*. Most mainstream scientists don't think it necessarily means an imminent reversal of the poles, much less a reversal of the earth's rotation. (And if the earth's rotation were slowing down preparatory to stopping and reversing, it would be observable on a gross level because the length of a day would increase. If the reversal were going to happen in 2012, we would already be very well aware of it.) Bronte: I've wondered about that point myself, but how about this angle? If you take a pendalum hanging from a string and spin it, it goes a while in one direction. Then, to my recollection (I haven't done this recently), it suddenly stops, pauses a second, then starts spinning full-speed in the other direction. There is no slowing down in the process of stopping, it just stops and reverses. Maybe it's like that for the earth twirling in space -- reaching the end of whatever force sent it spinning in the first place, then experiencing the reaction to that spin in the form of reverse direction. I just tried to make a pendalum to experiment with this, to make sure I'm remembering correctly, but I don't have the right stuff to do it with. My girlfriend has a pendalum, and I've got a call in to her to ask her to spin the thing and see if it slows down prior to reversal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > This is downright eerie. I'm not quite sure > why I find it more unsettling than most other > "natural" mysteries that scientists are > constantly stumbling across. > > Shrinking kilogram bewilders physicists > By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer > Wed Sep 12, 5:32 PM ET > > A kilogram just isn't what it used to be. The 118-year-old cylinder > that is the international prototype for the metric mass, kept tightly > under lock and key outside Paris, is mysteriously losing weight [Not > weight, mass!--JS] if ever so slightly. > > Physicist Richard Davis of the International Bureau of Weights and > Measures in Sevres, southwest of Paris, says the reference kilo > appears to have lost 50 micrograms compared with the average of > dozens of copies. > --------------------------------- Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell.
