With today’s busy life, people seem to want a day to last longer than 24 hours. So if there were only 24 or more hours in a day, how would you use that time?
Based on the relationship between the Earth and the Moon, a recent study investigated the change in the length of a day on Earth 1.4 billion years ago.
The research team includes geologist Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Earth scientist Alberto Malinverno of Columbia University, and several other colleagues.
They used a technique called astrochronology, linking geological records with astronomical theory to reconstruct the history of the Earth and the solar system.
Specifically, changes in the Earth’s climate and the orbit around the Sun, the vibrations of the Earth’s axis moving away from the Sun.
Using this method, the team calculated the distance between Earth and the Moon, variations in Earth’s orbit, and the length of a day 1.4 billion years ago.
The results of the study published in the National Journal of Science surprised many people: 1.4 billion years ago, a day lasted only 18 hours.
Scientists explain that: all thanks to the Moon effect orbiting our planet.
1.4 billion years ago, the Moon was closer to the Earth, and the Earth’s rotation was also faster.
Currently, the Moon is moving away from the Earth at a speed of 3.82 cm / year. “As the Moon gradually moves away from Earth, the speed of Earth’s orbit will be slower,” said senior researcher Mayers.
This means that the length of each year will increase a bit. The team calculated that 1.4 billion years ago until today, it averages 0.001542857 seconds each year.
Thanks to this, we now have 24 hours a day instead of 18 hours as before.
In addition, scientists have also confirmed that this phenomenon is still going on. After a series of calculations, they concluded that in the coming years 0.001818 seconds will be added each year. And in about 200 million years, a day on Earth will last 25 hours.
In the future, the researchers also want to use their method to recreate the development of the solar system billions of years ago.
