As if there aren't already enough side effects of global warming, scientists have concluded that global warming may actually change the speed with which the Earth rotates thus changing the length of a day on this planet. However, there seems to be conflicting views.

One study shows that as global warming heats the ocean water, water pressure will increase due to the volume expansion that occurs in water when heated. This extra water pressure will force a lot of the water from the deep ocean areas to shallower ones at the poles. By bringing that amount of mass closer to the axis of rotation, the speed of rotation will increase, thus shortening the length of a day by approximately 0.12 milliseconds by the year 2200.

Other evidence shows that global warming may slow the speed of rotation and increase the length of an Earth day. This study theorizes that as global warming heats the air and increases the speed of airflow, the rotation of the Earth will slow. This is because the rotation of the atmosphere and the rotation of the planet have an inverse relationship. When one increases, the other must decrease. Over the course of the next 200 years, this could lengthen an Earth day by 0.22 milliseconds.

So basically, we are to surmise that global warming will cause both an increase AND decrease of ~0.11-0.22 milliseconds in the length of an Earth day over the next 200 years. So do they cancel out? Maybe. The bigger question is why are these scientists spending a considerable amount of time trying to estimate if the earth's rotation will change by less than a millisecond over a 200 year period? That wouldn't even be noticeable. Seems that there are probably other side effects of global warming that could use some extra attention.

So, what would you do with an extra 0.3 nanoseconds per day? Or what would you cut out if you lost it?