# Earth's Wobble - electromagnetic contributions... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 1, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650 "2001-02-01T02:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/1 "2001-02-01T02:01:58Z")
While it doesn’t deal specifically with the [Chandler Wobble](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991203.html), the recent article [Clues to Earth’s Wobble Come From Within](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/earth_wobble_010131.html) from [space.com](http://www.space.com) details some interesting ideas about contributions to earth’s wobbles. Excerpt: > [@](#): > > A new theory proposes that iron-rich sediments are floating to the top of the core and sticking to the bottom of the mantle, creating [magnetic] drag that throws Earth’s rotation about its axis off by 0.04 to 0.08 inch (a millimeter or two) over a period of about 18.6 years. Share and enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/2 "2001-02-01T15:12:35Z")
Cool, but how in the world would they test a theory like that? 😕 Do they prove it with math? You sure can’t send a search party down there to look. [_flash on James Mason and that big Icelandic lug and what’s-er-name, Dorothy Malone in a dress, God save us, prowling around the Earth’s core._] ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/3 "2001-02-01T18:56:58Z")
You raise a valid point, but one that applies to almost all of geology and astronomy. When astronomers call things ‘neutron stars’, they haven’t actually sent Erwin the Quantum Mechanic out to check if they are _actually made of neutrons_. Fade to black, cue sound of hollow-earthers chanting “Just a theory!” ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/4 "2001-02-02T06:19:56Z")
That [space.com](http://space.com) article was posted to the [Bad Astronomer’s site](http://www.badastronomy.com/) a bit ago, and I noticed that the article has a glaring error. It says “The Earth’s precession alters the time of the annual vernal and autumnal equinoxes, making them arrive earlier each year.” Of course, they don’t arrive earlier each year, because our calendar is built so they don’t. That’s one of the reasons for the Gregorian calendar, in fact. We use a tropical year, not a sidereal year. However, if you want to go that route, here is some folk who don’t believe in precession at all: [The Sirius Research Group](http://www.siriusresearchgroup.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/5 "2001-02-03T14:41:18Z")
Is Erwin the Quantum Mechanic a real or copyrighted person? Or is he someone you made up just now? 'Cause I may need to add him to my sig, and I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes… And I didn’t mean, “Oh, they could never prove something like that”, I meant, “How do they prove something like that? How do they test their theory? Is it math or what?” I have great respect for math, mainly because I’m so terrible at it. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/6 "2001-02-03T18:10:07Z")
_Erwin the Quantum Mechanic_ is an appellation I made up on the spot to represent someone who is capable of measuring nuclear or elementary particles “magically.” It was inspired by Erwin Schroedinger. [Quoth Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_122.html): > [@](#): > > Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics! > Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics! > (Not bad, eh? Don’t worry. This part of the verse > Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.) > Win saw that the theory that Newton’d invented > By Einstein’s discov’ries had been badly dented. > What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, "Don’t panic, > No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic. I was going to go with _Joe the Quantum Mechanic_ but I realized that _Erwin the Quantum Mechanic_ has a certain _je ne sais quoi_, but I don’t know what it is. Feel free to use it in any context you wish, with or without credit. I’m just that kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/7 "2001-02-04T14:54:34Z")
Thank you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/8 "2001-02-04T15:40:31Z")
Actually, ever since Monica dumped Tom Selleck and accepted his proposal, Chandler’s been remarkably stable. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/9 "2004-05-17T22:27:25Z")
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&ncid=1894&e=3&u=/ap/20040517/ap\_on\_sc/earth\_wobble](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&ncid=1894&e=3&u=/ap/20040517/ap_on_sc/earth_wobble), I think Blewitt beat you, **Mentock**. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/10 "2004-05-19T16:59:48Z")
> [@JillGat](#): > > [Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&ncid=1894&e=3&u=/ap/20040517/ap_on_sc/earth_wobble), I think Blewitt beat you, **Mentock**. I’m not so sure I’ve completely blown it, yet. One of his co-authors is Richard Gross, the guy who announced four years ago that he’d solved the wobble mystery [(see this old thread)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=31197). They’re just trying to nail this sucker down. Again, I haven’t read the latest paper, but the measurements don’t prove much–the bulges that they are measuring could be the result of the wobble, rather than causing the wobble. And the link to Cecil’s column in that old thread is no longer active, the column is now [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991203.html). ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/11 "2004-05-19T18:57:49Z")
[QUOTE=RM Mentock] I’m not so sure I’ve completely blown it, yet. [QUOTE] You’re looking forward to saying Blewitt blew it. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earths-wobble-electromagnetic-contributions/52650/12 "2004-05-19T19:35:20Z")
ya got it 🙂