When will an Earth day become 25 hours?

The Earth completes one revolution around its axis once every 24 hours, which represents one day, but the Earth's rotation was not always constant, and early in the planet's history, the rotation may have been less than 10 hours.

Now, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have discovered that a day on Earth could eventually extend to 25 hours, a discovery that represents a major advance in understanding the Earth's rotation through rotational dynamics.

While it may take millions of years before another hour is added, Earth's days are getting longer by years. In fact, they're getting longer by about 1.8 milliseconds per century, according to EarthDate, a public radio program created by the University of Texas at Austin.

That's an increase of one minute every 3.3 million years, which means it could take 200 million years before another hour is added to the Earth's day.

The Moon appears to be to blame, because friction caused by the tides slows down the Earth's rotation over time.

When the Earth rotates on its axis, this determines the amount of sunlight that crosses its surface, thus affecting the length of days. But the Moon's gravity pulls on the side of Earth closest to it, creating tides and causing the planet to swell.

Tidal forces coming from the Moon create a friction effect, as the Moon slowly moves away from Earth over time, hindering the planet's rotation. In fact, this process would be very slow, and it would take 200 million years for an Earth day to reach 25 hours.

"The change in the Earth's rotation rate occurs gradually enough that evolutionary processes can adapt to changes over time," Konstantin Batygin, a professor of planetary sciences at the California Institute of Technology, told Live Science.

In fact, the length of days has been changing for years, and a billion years ago, the length of a day was only about 19 hours.

"The relative change in orbital speed will not be noticeable in everyday life," Batygin explained.

Days are expected to be 25 hours long, and there will be 350 days in a year instead of 365.

In fact, other planetary and astronomical events can affect the length of an Earth day. More common events such as earthquakes can have effects on the Earth's rotation.

For example, the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening the length of a 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds.

Scientists point out that human-made disasters are another potential factor influencing the length of Earth's days, explaining: "Climate change could play a role due to the redistribution of Earth's mass due to melting glaciers, sea level changes and tectonic activity. As the polar ice caps melt, the Rotation".

In short, the Earth's rotation is a dynamic process that has profound effects on the planet. It shapes our daily experience of time, influences weather and climate patterns, and plays a major role in the functioning of our world. Through a combination of astronomical, space and geological studies, scientists continue to unravel the complexities of Earth's rotation and deepen understanding of this essential planetary feature.