Around 1 million British schoolchildren succeeded in causing an earthquake yesterday, jumping up and down simultaneously in the world's largest scientific experiment.
Thousands of schools around Britain were asked to send children out into the playgrounds at 11am to jump up and down for a minute in the hope of creating a measurable quake.
PHOTO: AP
Organizers of the Giant Jump event, held to mark the launch of the government's Science Year, said it had been a success.
"We're almost sure we had a million people out there jumping for us. We got some kind of result at every single seismometer around the country," Nigel Pain, director of Science Year, said.
"We generated something like a hundredth of a serious earthquake -- that's not an enormous amount of energy but it's significant."
The exact number of people taking part would have to be verified, but he said it was an unofficial world record.
Early estimates suggested 75,000 tonnes of energy had been released during the minute of jumping.
"Because it's dissipated across the whole country it didn't do very much damage. But drop that in one spot and it would have caused quite a big hole in the ground," he added.
Over the next two weeks the results from around the country will be analysed to see if the event registered on the Richter scale.
Scientists said 1 million children with an average weight of 50kg jumping 20 times in a minute would release 2 billion joules of energy and trigger the equivalent of an earthquake measuring three on the Richter scale.
The event has also attracted serious attention from scientists including the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which maintains Britain's nuclear warheads.
Fortunately the world didn't split in two as one of the children surveyed before the event believed would happen, nor did the Earth leave the Sun's orbit as feared by another.
A third came up with a more likely, if less exciting scenario.
"There will be lots of hospital visits from people with sprained ankles."
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
‘EXTREME PRESSURE’: Beijing’s goal is to ‘force Taiwan to make mistakes,’ Admiral Tang Hua said, adding that mishaps could serve as ‘excuses’ for launching a blockade China’s authoritarian expansionism threatens not only Taiwan, but the rules-based international order, the navy said yesterday, after its top commander said in an interview that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could blockade the nation at will. The object of Beijing’s expansionist activities is not limited to Taiwan and its use of pressure is not confined to specific political groups or people, the navy said in a statement. China utilizes a mixture of cognitive warfare and “gray zone” military activities to pressure Taiwan, the navy said, adding that PLA sea and air forces are compressing the nation’s defensive depth. The navy continues to
RSS