Days on Earth Will Get Longer in 100 Years as The Moon Keeps Drifting Away: Scientists

Researchers are well aware of several effects of the Moon on the Earth as they continue to study its environment. Recently, experts found out about another impact of this natural satellite, which could change how future generations go about their daily lives, stated LADBible. 

Researchers claim that the moon is slowly moving away from Earth. This phenomenon is a result of gravity and tidal forces. The moon's gravitational pull on the planet causes the oceans to bulge. This event is called tides. However, when the Earth's spin is faster than the Moon's orbit, these bulges happen slightly ahead of the satellite's gravity. Essentially, the Earth's spinning is faster than the orbiting of the moon, which allows friction from the ocean basins to drag the water before the moon's gravity has a say, stated BBC. The moon's gravity then attempts to pull the waves back.

The energy involved in the process is making the moon move away from the Earth. "It's all about tides," said David Waltham, a professor of geophysics at Royal Holloway, University of London, who studies the relationship between the Moon and the Earth, stated BBC. "The tidal drag on the Earth slows its rotation down, and the Moon gains that energy as angular momentum."

Researchers claim that the moon is shifting at a rate of 1.5 inches (3.8cm) every year. "While 3.78cm may not seem like much, this small difference over a long enough period of time could affect life on Earth, making the planet slow down," space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock shared, stated LADBible. "On early Earth, when the Moon was newly formed, days were five hours long, but with the Moon's braking effect operating on the Earth for the last 4.5bn years, days have slowed down to the 24 hours that we are familiar with now, and they will continue to slow down in the future."

Experts believe that this phenomenon is increasing the length of the day by about 1.7 milliseconds every century. This change in duration is not good news for living beings, especially animals, who possibly may not be able to adjust to the changes brought to the natural processes by the steadily longer days.  Astronomers have been able to determine that the moon is shifting away from the Earth due to the mirrors left on the moon by Apollo missions. Scientists bounced off lasers from these mirrors to calculate the distance between the moon and earth.

At present, the moon is 384,400km (238,855 miles) away from Earth, stated BBC. However, a recent examination showcased that some 3.2 billion years ago, the natural satellite was situated just 270,000km (170,000 miles) from Earth. This is just 70% of the current gap between Earth and the moon. The finding showcases how much of a difference the  'gravitational tug-of-war' on the tidal waves has made across centuries. 

Along with the moon's impact, there are other factors as well that are increasing the duration. These reasons include the spin of the Earth's liquid core underneath the crust and the gravitational pull of other extraterrestrial bodies like the sun and the other planets. The accumulated effect has reportedly caused Earth to spin at a faster rate compared to the first half of the 20th Century.