The rotation of the earth “accelerating” and the reasons are not clear until now sciences

In the past of the terrible earth, it was not today as we know it now. When the dinosaurs roamed the planet for more than 200 million years, the length of one day did not exceed about 23 hours.

This is due to the fact that the Earth’s rotation was faster in those ancient geological ages, as a result of the effects of gravity between the Earth and the moon that had not slowed the speed of the planet in the way we see today.

The day of 25 hours

Even in the relatively near human history, during the Bronze Age about 4000 years ago, studies indicate that the average day long was short of about 0.47 seconds compared to the length of the current day of about 24 hours (i.e. 86 thousand and 400 seconds).

This simple time difference is not observed in daily life, but it is very important in astronomical calculations and microscopic sciences, and is measured by accurate analyzes of the movement of the earth using geological and archaeological records.

Looking at the future, scientists expect that if the process of gradual slowdown in the rotation of the Earth continues as a result of the tidal forces and other internal and external effects, the length of the day will continue to increase.

Astronomical models indicate that after about 200 million years from now, one day on Earth will take 25 hours instead of 24.

This slow change in the length of the day is part of the dynamics of our planet, and is affected by multiple factors that include the interaction of gravity between the earth and the moon and the change of the mass distribution on the surface of the earth (such as the melting of ice) and transformations in the inner land structure (such as the movement of liquid outer pulp) until seismic activity and volcanoes.

Daily fluctuations

In other words, the same time as we measure it daily is not fixed over the ages, but rather a reflection of the movement of a living planet, constantly changing, and responds to huge cosmic powers over millions of years.

But besides deep changes in time, the Earth’s rotation also witnesses daily fluctuations, as natural factors such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tide, carrots and the internal structure of the Earth can affect the speed of the planet’s rotation, which leads to increased or slightly decreased, and these fine changes may accumulate over time.

Although the general trend of the Earth’s rotation tends to slow down, scientists have noticed since 2020 that the Earth began to spin faster. This observation has been recorded through data issued by the International Earth rotation Authority and reference systems (IRS(Affiliated with the American Maritime Observatory in Washington.

This led to some days that became short than 1.5 to 1.5 mm, and in 2024, July 5 was recorded as shorter day, shorter 1.66 millimeters than usual, and in 2025, similar short days will occur on July 9, July 22 and Fifth of August, according to the Time & Diet platform.

Facial seconds

It is believed that this acceleration in the rotation may make us need, for the first time in history, to a second -off launch of international time, by 2029, this means that the hour will jump again from 23:59:59 to 00:00:01 in full international time.

In fact, the current system run by the International Authority for Earth and Reference Systems depends on adding or deleting seconds every few years to correct the timing difference between the rotation of the earth and the atomic watches, and the trend has always been to add new seconds to accurately control time.

The next possible date for a new second addition was December 31, 2025. Nevertheless, due to the recent rotation of the Earth, it is unlikely to add any leap second in the near future.

The leap seconds are usually added either on June 30 or December 31, and spoke at the end of the day, shortly before midnight. At the digital time, the second leap is read at 23:59:60 pm.

This comes in the context of controlling UDC (UTC), which is the standard of international time, and each time zone is defined as a certain number of hours or minutes, ahead or late UTC.

International coordinated time in its essence follows the international atomic time, which collects data about 200 high -resolution atomic hours, reserved in separate laboratories around the world.

Why does the rotation of the earth accelerate?

There is no clear explanation yet to this recent acceleration, but the matter is not overwhelming in the “magic” sense of the word, as scientists believe that one of the following factors, or all of the influence of a society, was the reason for this effect:

• Interior factors: Perhaps something inside the Earth itself (in the heart or lower layers) is the cause, not in the atmosphere or oceans.
• Stretches and islands: The moon’s clouds of Earth’s water can slow down or speed up rotation.
• Earthquakes and volcanoes: These events change the distribution of the mass inside the earth and affect its speed.
• Pointing of the polar ice: redistributing the mass due to the melting of the ice may affect the tendency and speed of the earth.

In any case, this does not have a negative impact on our lives, as these changes are very small, but they are very important for fine timing systems such as satellites, internet and air navigation.