NEW DELHI: The 24-hour day on Earth could eventually become a 25-hour day due to the moon gradually drifting away from the planet, said a study carried out by researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
According to the research, the Moon is moving away from Earth at a rate of approximately 3.8 centimeters per year. This gradual drift means that in about 200 million years, Earth days will extend to 25 hours.
18-hour days 1.4 billion years ago
The study published in scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science has revealed that around 1.4 billion years ago, when the Moon was closer to Earth, a day lasted just over 18 hours. As the distance between Earth and the Moon has increased, the length of a day on our planet has also lengthened, according to researchers.
Tides behind earth’s slow rotation
David Waltham, Professor of geophysics at Royal Holloway, University of London said that the tidal drag on the Earth slows its rotation down and the Moon gains that energy as angular momentum.
At present, the Moon is an average of 384,400 km (238,855 miles) away from Earth, taking roughly 27.3 days to complete a single orbit around our planet.