China Slows Earth's Rotation and Increases Day Length

A geophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Dr. Benjamin Fong-Chao, has stated that China's Three Gorges Dam has actually increased the length of the day. This is due to the slowing of the planet's rotation.

The Three Gorges Dam is located on the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, China. Completed in 2012, the dam is 2,335 meters long and 185 meters high, containing approximately 40 cubic kilometers of water. However, this volume of water is situated 175 meters above sea level, giving it significant weight and potential energy.

Now, NASA scientists have confirmed that the world's largest hydroelectric power station has caused a small but measurable change in the Earth's rotation, increasing the length of days by 0.06 microseconds and shifting the planet's axis by nearly 2 centimeters. “For reference, that's a little over 3 days in the entire history of the cosmos,” explains Dr. Chao. According to American scientists, the vast amount of water in the reservoir near the Chinese dam has altered the distribution of the Earth's mass.