The hour that people always miss: scientists tell when the Earth's day will become longer

New scientific research suggests that the day on Earth is gradually lengthening as the Moon gradually moves away from our planet. Scientists have found that as the Moon's distance from the Earth increases, its gravitational influence weakens, which leads to a slowdown in the rotation of our planet.

As a result, the length of the day is gradually increasing.

According to researchers, over time, a day on Earth may last 25 hours, but this will take about 200 million years.

Geology professor Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin explained this phenomenon by comparing it to a figure skater slowing down by stretching his arms as the Moon moves away.

Currently, the Moon is approximately 384,400 kilometers from Earth and makes one revolution around our planet in 27.3 days. Every year it moves away by about 3.8 centimeters, which means it takes a little longer to complete one revolution around the Earth.

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Eventually, the Moon will reach a stable distance, and it will be visible from only one side of the Earth, scientists believe.

Meyers and his colleagues reconstructed the relationship between the Earth and the Moon, finding that 1.4 billion years ago, the Moon was much closer to our planet, and the Earth was rotating faster, so a day then lasted only 18 hours.

For millions of years, the Moon has been gradually moving away from the Earth, a process scientists call the "lunar recession."

Accurate measurements of the Moon's receding speed became possible thanks to special laser reflectors installed by the astronauts of the Apollo missions on the Moon.

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In addition to the Moon's gravitational influence, other factors, such as climate change, also affect the Earth's rotation.

Rising global temperatures lead to the melting of polar ice and rising sea levels. All the meltwater is moving from the poles to the equator, making the Earth wider in the middle and slowing its rotation even more.

This means that the days on Earth are gradually lengthening. Although these changes are so small that we don't notice them, they will accumulate over millions of years, and as a result, a day will become a full hour longer.

Earlier, we told you that scientists refuted the theory of the origin of life on Earth.

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