Day Lengthening

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which reconstructs the history of Earth's relationship to moon shows that 1.4 billion years ago, the day used to be 18 hours 41 minutes longdue to presence of moon nearer to earth as compared to present time.
The author of study, Stephen Meyers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison explained "As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out".
It describes a tool, a statistical method, that links astronomical theory with geological observation called astrochronology that enables the tracing of geological history of Earth.

Factors that affect Earth's rotation

Forces exerted by other astronomical bodies i.e. moon and other planets orbiting sun. Small, initial variations in these moving parts can propagate into big changes millions of years later, this is solar system chaos.



The moon is currently moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.82 cm per year which is one of the major reason for decrease in speed of rotation of Earth which further causes lengthening of day on Earth.

References-
http://www.pnas.org

Thank the moon for Earth’s lengthening day

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