Scientists amazed: Earth’s rotation “wobbles” as it moves farther from the sun

On Tuesday, July 26, researchers set a new world record showing the planet is spinning faster than ever, making the days shorter. With precise calculations and atomic clocks, scientists noted the time change with the shortest day so far. However, scientists then discovered that despite this record, the Earth may be slowing down, causing the days to be longer.

Matt King and Christopher Watson of the University of Tasmania wrote: “But despite this record, that steady acceleration has curiously turned into a slowdown since 2020 – the days are getting longer again and why remains a mystery.”

The earth doesn’t take exactly 24 hours to rotate on its axis, it usually varies very slightly, with even events like earthquakes affecting this time.

Professors King and Watson said: “Over millions of years, the Earth’s rotation has slowed due to frictional effects associated with lunar-driven tides.

“This process adds about 2.3 milliseconds to each day of each century.

“A few billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted only about 19 hours.”

However, in the last 20,000 years since the last Ice Age, melting polar ice sheets have reduced surface pressure on Earth, causing the mantle to steadily move toward the poles.

The researchers wrote: “Just as a ballet dancer spins faster when he brings his arms toward his body — the axis around which he spins — so our planet’s rate of rotation increases as this mantle mass moves closer to Earth’s axis.

“And this process is shortening by about 0.6 milliseconds per century every day.”

After allowing for small variations in rotation speed, which we know occur due to tidal and seasonal effects, the scientists were amazed by the results.

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They discovered that despite the record for the shortest day, “the long-term trajectory appears to have shifted from shortening to lengthening since 2020,” representing an “unprecedented shift” in the past five decades.

Researchers have put forward a number of different theories as to why this is happening, with some suggesting that weather events such as melting ice caps or back-to-back La Nina may have played a role.

Some have even hypothesized that this could be related to the massive volcanic explosion in Tonga, which ejected huge amounts of water into the atmosphere, although this seems unlikely as the eruption took place in January this year.

Professors King and Watson added: “Scientists have speculated that this recent, mysterious change in the planet’s rotational speed is related to a phenomenon called the ‘Chandler Wobble’ – a small deviation in the Earth’s rotational axis with a period of around 430 years days.

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“Observations from radio telescopes also show that wobble has decreased in recent years; the two may be connected.”

While the earth suddenly appears to be slowing down, it is also moving farther away from the sun.

According to NASA, Earth is an average of about 150 million kilometers from the giant fiery ball of flame, which is spinning in an elliptical orbit.

However, the average distance between the Earth and the Sun has slowly increased over time, particularly as the Sun loses mass.

Nuclear fusion, which converts mass into energy, powers the sun.

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