25 Hours a Day! Days on Earth are Getting Longer Because of the Moon, Know How And Why

If you have been feeling that time passes a little these days then you have been wrong, and we are saying this with scientific backing. In fact, the very opposite is happening as days on Earth are getting longer. We might have 25 hours a day in the distant future. Our satellite moon is moving away from its orbit which increases the daytime on the surface of the Earth. In the previous studies, it has been revealed that a day was once just 18 hours long and while we continue to schedule ourselves in 24 hours today, the time may just rise since the moon's movement. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that 1.4 billion years ago the moon orbited much closer to the planet. So it affected how our planet spins on the axis. Now as it moves away, the days are meant to get longer, eventually even resulting in an added hour in the daytime. So maybe we can have 25 hours comprising one whole day.

How Does Moon Affect the Hours on Moon? 

Earlier the moon used to be a lot closer to the Earth, so the effect of its gravity was seen majorly on the earth. The moon's gravity affects the tides in the ocean, which cover a majority of the globe today. Because of the strong tidal system, the earth would move very slowly. A moon's force kind of serves as a brake to the rotation of the earth. The tides in the ocean are a cause of the moon's gravitational pull. We experience high tides and low tides in different parts of the world as the earth is constantly rotating and the moon controls the bulging of the water. Other than the moon, there are also other bodies in the solar system which exert a pressure on the Earth's movement. But now as the moon is moving farther away, the effect felt on the earth's surface will slowly reduce, albeit not immediately. The resulting consequence is that the day on the Earth will be larger.

How is the Moon moving away? 

The moon is believed to be moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.82 centimetres a year. Stephen Meyers, the author of the study, said, "As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out." The researchers used a statistical method to look back on Earth's geologic past, reconstruct the history of the solar system and understand ancient climate change as captured in the rock record.

They studied the changes in the Earth's climate due to the changes in its orbit around the Sun. All the variations are called as Milankovitch cycles which determine the information on sunlight received as well as determine Earth's climate rhythms. Talking about the movement of the moon, Meyers has said, "Using this present day rate, scientists extrapolating back through time calculated that "beyond about 1.5 billion years ago, the moon would have been close enough that its gravitational interactions with the Earth would have ripped the moon apart."

25 Hours a Day?

So yes, as the Earth is also undergoing climatic changes due to external forces in the solar system, the timings will also be affected. But if you are expecting immediate results then no. According to the calculations presented by the researchers, it will be hundreds of millions of years away to have an extra hour. Our days were getting longer by around 0.000018 seconds per year. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If you have been waiting for the added time then no, sorry for the disappointment!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2018 06:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).