[ProudVet77]

Wong is wrong. A churchbell is not hit by a tong, it's hit by a clapper.
He is also wrong that this changed the earth's mass. The mass of the earth is the same, it's just vibrating. The strange thing is that Stony Brook used to be the home of a very good physics department. A lot of the guys from Brookhaven Labs used to get their post graduate degrees there as well as teach there.

[this_ol_patriot]

...much like a church bell when struck by a tong, said Stony Brook geophysicist Teng-fong Wong.

I think he meant his neighbor, ;-) or maybe he wang the wong bell.

[X_CDN_EH]

Yes sir, you are correct. The mass is the same because the earth is a closed system. Unless some of the earth's mass is ejected into space, it doesn't change. He probably meant that the Earth's balance has changed and the planet is ringing.

[Cobra64]

Is the clong clanged by a copper clapper from Cleveland?

(From a Johnny Carson skit from the 1970s - funny as hell!).

[Khurkris]

Stony Brook also counts Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass) as illustrious affilates.

[Alissa]

A churchbell is not hit by a tong

Temples in the Far East use a gong to ring their bells.

[DainBramage]

It did change the shape of the earths mass, and as it settles back the ringing continues.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Wong is wrong. A churchbell is not hit by a tong, it's hit by a clapper. He is also wrong that this changed the earth's mass.

Who knows what Dr. Wong told Andy Geller? This is popularized report. A particularly bizarre line, even by the standards of popular journalism is:

The quake caused a shift in the Earth's rotation, as the change in the planet's mass altered the effect of the pull of gravity on the Earth.

I mean, like wots up with dat? Neither the Earth's mass nor angular momentum changed measurably. What changed was the distribution of mass, which changes the 3 x 3 inertial momentum tensor - the 3-D equivalent of moment of inertia. To conserve angular momentum, the rotational rates and instantaneous rotational axis will change, whether measurably or not remains to be seen. Exactly what gravity, in terms of classical mechanics, has to do with any of this is beyond me. Long term this might have a very minor effect on precession of the equinox and nutation, (certainly gravitational processes) but there have been earthquakes before.

The U.S. Naval Observatory has a web page devoted to "Earth's Rotation", http://maia.usno.navy.mil/eop.html For some reason they are unusually slow today. In a discussion of polar motion they say, "It is also possible that a large earthquake might affect polar motion, but to date, this effect has not been observed closely." Maybe they'll have to revise that statement.

It takes a long time to collect and process accurate information on the Earth's orientation, mostly using long baseline interferometry of distance astronomical radio sources. It will be days or weeks before the effects can be accurately gaged.

[jwpjr]

I would sooner think it's a misrepresentation by the press of what was actually said. I know a few subjects very well, flying and medicine among them, and I am shocked at how frequently I see really silly things being reported in the paper or on TV and know full well that the person being quoted would never have said that. I have to wonder if they are so far off base on these things I understand, how many other stories do they botch. Often they get the quote right, but then go on to phrase other aspects of the story in their own words and they are simply wrong. Especially when it comes to aviation.

[Route101]

A clapper goes in the crapper to prevent water from escaping...