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The Human Influence on the Planet Goes Far Beyond Pollution and Global Warming. According to NASA calculations, China has achieved an unprecedented feat: it has slightly slowed down the rotation of the Earth. The cause of this is one of the largest engineering projects ever built by man: the Three Gorges Dam.
Located on the Yangtze River, China, this gigantic structure holds billions of liters of water and directly impacts the distribution of mass on the planet. According to scientists, its filling has shifted the Earth’s axis and increased the length of the day by 0.06 microseconds. Although this effect is imperceptible to us, it reinforces the idea that human actions are affecting even the most fundamental balances of the Earth.
The Three Gorges Dam in China and Its Global Impact
The Three Gorges Dam is not only the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, but also a marvel of modern engineering. Built on the Yangtze River in China, this megastructure is 2,335 meters long and 185 meters high, creating a reservoir capable of storing 40 trillion liters of water.
Its main purpose is large-scale electricity generation. With a capacity of 22,500 MW, the plant surpassed Itaipu, which was previously the largest operating hydroelectric power station. In 2020, the Three Gorges Dam set a world record for energy production by generating nearly 112 TWh, exceeding that of entire countries in electricity consumption.
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How Can China Slow Down the Earth’s Rotation?
The relationship between the hydroelectric plant and the Earth’s rotation was discovered by NASA researchers. Geophysicist Benjamin Fong Chao explained that the filling of the reservoir has minimally shifted the planet’s axis, but enough to slow down its rotation.
This effect is explained by the concept of moment of inertia, which regulates the rotational speed of a body based on the distribution of its mass. Just as a figure skater spins faster by pulling in their arms and slower by extending them, the redistribution of large masses of water on the Earth’s surface can slightly alter its rotation.
In the case of the Three Gorges Dam, NASA calculated that the accumulation of water in the reservoir increased the length of the day by 0.06 microseconds. Although this seems an insignificant number, it demonstrates how human interventions can affect large-scale natural systems.
The Impact of Human Activities on the Planet
The action of the Three Gorges Dam in China is not the only example of human interference with the Earth’s rotation. The tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004, caused by a strong submarine earthquake, had the opposite effect: it accelerated the planet’s rotation and reduced the length of the day by 2.68 microseconds. This happened because the movement of tectonic plates redistributed the Earth’s mass significantly.
The extraction of groundwater is also altering the planet’s balance. Between 1993 and 2010, humanity withdrew more than 2,150 gigatons of water from underground, raising sea levels and shifting the Earth’s axis by 80 centimeters to the east.
The Earth Is Constantly Changing
The Earth’s rotation has never been completely stable. Since 1900, the planet’s axis has moved about 10 centimeters per year, due to natural factors such as shifts in the atmosphere, oceans, and Earth’s crust.
Traditionally, it was believed that these changes were primarily caused by the melting of polar ice caps and the gravitational pull of the Moon. However, recent studies indicate that human activity plays a much larger role than previously thought, either through the construction of megaprojects like the Three Gorges Dam in China, or through the environmental impact of natural resource exploitation.
Oque está destruindo o planeta é a queima de combustível fóceis e destruições de montanhas para tirar minérios e tirando água dos aquiferos, tem que mudar para energia limpa e plantar florestas dos biomas no entorno de todas as cidades do Brasil e no mundo inteiro para tirar o dióxido de carbono CO2 da atmosfera limpando o ar,o calor está insuportável.
Se essa barragem fosse feita na Europa o Estados Unidos, a rotação da terra estava normal. Más como a China está se preparando para assumir a liderança, industrial, comercial, miltar e tecnológica do mundo, a barragem em questão se torna um perigo para a humanidade.
Devido a outros fatores, já comprovados, que também vêm alterando a rotação da Terra, vocês não deveriam colocar este título com chamada somente para China.