Posted on 08/02/2022 3:50:41 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
Ever feel like there’s just not enough time in the day? Turns out, you might be onto something. Earth is rotating faster than it has in the last half-century, resulting in our days being ever-so-slightly shorter than we’re used to. And while it’s an infinitesimally small difference, it’s become a big headache for physicists, computer programmers and even stockbrokers.
Why Earth rotates
Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, when a dense cloud of interstellar dust and gas collapsed in on itself and began to spin. There are vestiges of this original movement in our planet’s current rotation, thanks to angular momentum — essentially, “the tendency of the body that's rotating, to carry on rotating until something actively tries to stop it,” explains Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory.
Thanks to that angular momentum, our planet has been spinning for billions of years and we experience night and day. But it hasn’t always spun at the same rate.
Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth made about 420 rotations in the time it took to orbit the Sun; we can see evidence of how each year was jam-packed with extra days by examining the growth lines on fossil corals. Although days have gradually grown longer over time (in part because of how the moon pulls at Earth’s oceans, which slows us down a bit), during humanity’s watch, we’ve been holding steady at about 24 hours for a full rotation — which translates to about 365 rotations per trip ’round the Sun.
As scientists have improved at observing Earth’s rotation and keeping track of time, however, they've realized that we experience little fluctuations in how long it takes to make a full rotation.
(Excerpt) Read more at astronomy.com ...
No wonder why I’m always running out of time. The days are getting shorter.
3 Gorges Dam. Situation should be remedied soon.
Not yet, officially. They have not subtracted a negative leap second yet. Why this should occur is not clear. Slowing of the earth has long been attributed to tidal breaking, with the lost angular momentum transferred to the moon, which, counter-intuitively, increases the lunar orbit’s radius, causing the period to increase very slightly.
Yes, now being 73, I can recollect that about 50 yeasrs ago at the age of 23 I statrted to feel light headed.
So the increased spin is causing an increase in friction between the atmosphere and the land increasing the air temperature. No wonder it’s hot out there. We are all going to die.
I think you have the best take. If any shortening is possible, it would be from locking up large bodies of water, which wasn’t really a thing until 100 years ago.
If North and South America were ever separate, then I would think that their joining would have made quite a difference a long time ago.
Women and minorities hardest hit.
We may see the undoing in the not too distant future.
All our founding fathers spinning in their graves has affected the global rate of spin
It would be best that you had not even suggested that, as some fool “climate change” idiot might pick up on it & cause more problems than they are already. It is really strange how some of our gov’t. appointees would believe how something like that necessitated changes & yet can’t see how we are in a recession.
OMG!!!! That's what I thought? This is worse than global warming and/or climate change or even monkeypox! As the spin increases people are going to spin off into outer space! It's time to eat more chocolate chocolate chip ice cream to help tether yo fat ass to the earth. I know. Joe told me so. No joke!!!!!
I went to the doctor.
I said, “Doc, I’m dizzy!”
He said, “Not to worry. It’s just faster earth spin.”
As an example, the next time you take your kids or grandkids to the park and push them on the merry-go-round, do an experiment. Push it hard to get it spinning, then ask them to lean their bodies away from the center (which slows the rotation), then ask them to lean their bodies towards the center (which speeds rotation). I did this with my kids to teach them about kinetic energy and rotational inertia.
You’re not wrong. The Earth is no different than a spinning figure skater tucking their arms in or spreading them out to adjust the speed of their spin. Mass changes in relation to distance from the equator has the same effect and it was reported the dam changed the length of a day as well as major earthquakes when tectonic plates moved.
That means everyone is becoming lighter. I need to adjust my scale tomorrow to reflect my true weight. This discovery will make many women happy.
Damn CO2!
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