How many times have you said, “I wish the days were longer”? Well, NASA scientists say the construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam actually did make the days longer, by slowing the rotation of the Earth. Hallelujah! Extra time you can use to learn a new language, catch up at work, or even better, sleep in.

This raises a lot of questions. First of all, is it true? Did the dam actually make our days longer? And if so, why? And just how much extra time are we talking about here? I mean, you need to plan your schedule, right? Should we build more giant dams to get even more time?

Angular Velocity

To answer these questions, we need three basic physics ideas: (1) angular velocity, (2) angular momentum, and (3) the moment of inertia. I’ll explain each of these.

First, here’s a little experi

See Full Page