I have often thought about the effects an asteroid or meteorite's impact might have regarding the rotation of the earth. I found this little quote today; [A large quake -- like the one that hit Chile's Maule region -- shifts massive amounts of rock and alters the distribution of mass on the planet.
When that distribution changes, it changes the rate at which the planet rotates. And the rotation rate determines the length of a day.
"Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth's rotation," Benjamin Fong Chao, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said while explaining the phenomenon in 2005.]
Is it possible, probable that earth is hit at infrequent intervals by extraterrestrial bodies enough to effect the earths's rotation or alter the oceanic thermocline engine? If so, are we possibly in for a catastrophic assault any time soon?
Hey Cappy: I am not sure of the effect on the effect on the warming/cooling cycle of the ocean or the effect on the Earths rotation, but it is a proven fact that the Earth is hit by extraterrestrial bodies. As for the frequency, everything is relevant. For a human life which on average last less that 80 years is would seem to be infrequent, but when taken by the age of the Earth itself we are hit on a quite frequent basis. The probability could be described when asking the question "What is the chance of a coin landing on heads on the next flip when the previous 4 have flips have been tails?". Of course the answer is 50%. Just because we have not been hit by a large extraterestial body in the last 500 years the probability does not increase. The chance on 9 March ,2010 is the same as on 9 March,1610 or 9 March, 1810. Of course the Probability that it will eventually happen is 100%. The Odds of it happening in 100 years from today are the same as todays. The largest question that seems to come to light is that if a asteroid broke free from the belt between Mars and Jupiter and came this way, smashing into the Earth, how did CO2 production on Earth cause it?
Nature has a powerful way of producing "Climate Change" in a manner that is virulent enough to destroy dominant species without mans help.
BTW, how are those grand babies doin?
