I have been pondering on something for a while now and thought I would write it down and see what others think. It's probably nonsense but I figured what the heck.

Watching my kids in a park I saw them on one of those little machines that rotates (not a round about). If the child hangs 'out' then it goes slow and if they come close to the centre it speeds up.....this got me thinking.

We're busy pulling massive amounts of resources from the earth. From hard minerals to oil, we are taking thousands (probably millions) of tons from below, and bringing them up, working them and redistributing them. Some end up high up in the atmosphere as particles.

Over time this is going to amount do a change in the distribution of weight much like the kids play apparatus. Could this in theory then affect (in a small way) the speed in which our earth rotates (which in turn could affect our orbit)?

It's probably insignificant amounts or our rotation is not linked to such things but I figured it was an unusual thought....

That's a really interesting idea, although given the overall mass of the earth and how comparatively shallow we mine, I don't think we're anywhere close to changing it.

Anyone out there know enough of the math to make a better guess?