The class period of tens, hundreds of thousands of years after this period will be even longer.
If you have the opportunity to visit the Cenozoic era which took place around 620 million years ago, you will see a lot of different things in space and time. The creature that ruled the surface of the Earth had a strange shape, and the passage of time was nothing like modern times. Because the Earth’s axis rotates faster than it is today, a day hundreds of millions of years ago was only 22 hours long.
Over billions of years, the Earth’s rotation slows down; It is a process that has continued throughout history and still continues. Scientists estimate that each century a day will increase by about 1.8 milliseconds. The length of a day varies from year to year.
Although the Triples are still spinning, science still doesn’t really understand the factors that influence this pole dance. But with extremely sensitive research instruments, the researchers had almost precise data and were tracking the Earth’s rotation time at the microsecond level.
Result: we learn that the rotation of the blue planet is constantly changing, that every day is not the same.
So what is a day?
Since the very first day of the founding of the country, the Earth has turned. Any celestial body is formed from matter brought together by the influence of gravity, so rotation is natural. However, this movement is not consistent throughout the existence of the object. The forces that affect the rotation of a celestial body are closely related to the behavior of the nucleus, as well as the direction of movement of air (if any) on the surface of the object. Not to mention the influence of gravity from other celestial bodies.
Today, science can measure even the smallest changes in the Earth’s rotation using very long-base interferometry. From space telescopes located far from the ground, and since they observe signals affecting the Earth from space, scientists can observe rotation by measuring the input and output signals.
By comparing the time between the appearance and disappearance of the signal, we can calculate very precisely the time it takes the Earth to complete a turn.
Many factors affect the rotation of the Earth, and the most important factor, the longest influence is the Moon – the artificial satellite. For billions of years, gravity radiating from the Moon slowed the Earth’s rotation. Because of the Moon, a Cenozoic Era day lasted only 22 hours, and later the number of hours in a day will be even more.
Basically, this mechanism is the transfer of energy between the Earth and the Moon. The gravity of “Sister Hang” causes rocks to rise slightly to the Earth’s surface, but will not protrude directly below the Moon. The difference between the position of the rock outcrop and the Moon creates a torque that slows down the Earth’s rotation. This rotational force acting on the Moon causes Hang Mansion to fly farther and farther away from us, at a distance of 3.8 cm / year. However, this is not a constant, it varies continuously.
Interactions between the two bodies have been around since the Moon began to orbit the Earth. According to estimates by some scientists, a day 1.4 billion years ago was only 18.7 hours long. And then the Moon was located about 43,000 km closer to the Earth than it is today.
Will tomorrow be longer than today?
Considering an easier time frame to imagine, various factors affect the rate of rotation of the Earth. Among them, the one that has the most influence is the Earth core. The oscillations of liquid in the nucleus cause the rate of rotation of the planet to change, although we do not know the magnitude of these effects. We have yet to get a close look at the Earth’s core, nor do we know how it affects global activity.
On the surface, the movement of wind and waves also affects the speed of the Earth’s rotation. The waves crashing on the shore, the wind blowing the mountainside all have certain effects.
Geological activity also causes the Earth to rotate quickly or slowly. The 2004 earthquake that devastated countries near the Indian Ocean caused the Earth to rotate about 3 microseconds faster. The change in mass of the Earth after the earthquake caused a change in rotation. Today, we must also take into account the melting ice, the rise in sea level lightening the poles but weighing down the equator; Climate change has caused the Earth to “stagnate”, thus lengthening the day.
And the Earth’s rotation also changes with the seasons: faster in the northern hemisphere in summer, a little slower in winter. We fly in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, and when we’re near the fireball, we fly faster, which means we’re spinning slower.
Like everything, change is inevitable. However, with changes that are only measured in milli, micro units like the Earth’s rotation or feelings of being crushed, you don’t need to worry too much about it, just live carefree. A day in the Cenozoic era may only last 22 hours, but from what we know, the weather is always relativistic.
