Science: Earth’s speed of rotation increasing, duration of day will be less than 24 hours, how will it impact us?

Science News: There is going to be a big change in the Earth in the days to come. Researchers have found in a study that the Earth’s rotation speed has been increasing for the last five years. Since the year 2020, the Earth is rotating on its axis faster than usual. Due to this, the world can experience the shortest day in history. This means that the day will be of less than 24 hours. This shortest day can happen in July or August this year.

The Earth rotates on its axis, causing day and night. This rotation is from west to east. It takes approximately 24 hours for the Earth to complete one rotation relative to the sun, resulting in a solar day.

Astronomer Graham Jones has given three possible dates for the shortest day. This can happen on 9 July or 22 July or on 5th August. Scientists believe that this will happen due to the effect on the Earth from the orbit of the Moon. They say that this day will be shorter than a normal day by more than 1.66 milliseconds.

Why is the day getting shorter?

A solar day should last exactly 24 hours, but the Earth’s rotation has never been completely stable. According to the study, the Earth started rotating faster in 2020, which has reduced the time of the day. However, scientists do not know the reason for the increase in Earth’s rotation on its axis.

In the year 2021, a day was recorded as being shorter by 1.47 milliseconds compared to the normal duration, while in 2022, it decreased by 1.59 milliseconds. A new record was then set on July 5, 2024, when the day was 1.66 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours.

Scientists have told that in the year 2025, July 9, July 22 or August 5 are the estimated dates. They say that when the orbit of the moon is farthest from the equator of the Earth, there is an effect on the Earth. The duration of the day becomes less than 24 hours.

According to the study, the speed of Earth’s rotation has been slowing down for billions of years due to the moon. 4.5 billion years ago, a day on Earth could have lasted from three to six hours, but due to the gravitational pull of the moon, the duration of the day on Earth today is 24 hours.

The reduction of a few milliseconds in the day does not have any effect on normal life. However, it is very important for technology and telecommunications. Scientists believe that if this trend of the Earth continues like this, in about 50 billion years the rotation of the Earth will be in sync with the orbit of the moon. Then the moon will always be visible only on one part of the Earth. By that time many more changes would have taken place on Earth.