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North Korean nuclear test sets off years of earthquakes

225 points · 181 comments · rbanffy

  1. margalabargala · · focus · HN ↗
    Could this be considered a good thing?

    The energy being released in these many tiny earthquakes was always going to exist in this location. Much better to release it slowly via thousands of tiny earthquakes than all at once. Better to have 10k magnitude 3 quakes than one magnitude 7.

    1. jjk166 · · focus · HN ↗
      If you have an anvil hanging over your head, the potential energy that would kill you already exists. Slowly lowering the anvil makes sense. Damaging the rope holding the anvil doesn't.
      1. ryanisnan · · focus · HN ↗
        I don’t think this is a good analogy.
        1. jjk166 · · focus · HN ↗
          If you have an ~~anvil hanging over your head~~ ton of compressed rock under you, the potential energy that would kill you already exists. Slowly lowering the ~~anvil~~ potential energy of the rock makes sense. Damaging the ~~rope holding the anvil~~ rock containing the energy doesn't.
          1. wongarsu · · focus · HN ↗
            But setting off small earthquakes doesn't just damage the rope, it also lowers the anvil. Also the anvil in our analogy is constantly getting heavier, so the chances of our rope holding forever are very low
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