Earth Is spinning faster now than it was 50 years ago

Astronomy Magazine ^

[ClearCase_guy]

I feel the same way. Conservation of energy seems to argue against things speeding up on their own.

The only thing I can think of is an analogy to an ice skater in a spin with their arms extended. As they bring their arms into their body, the speed of the spin increases. I’m not sure I see how the earth would be doing anything similar, but perhaps through gravitational compression (or something) maybe our spin is getting “tighter” and therefore faster.

But in general I distrust science and I agree that some people foolishly conclude that “better measurements” means that “things are changing”. And that is not necessarily so.

[Billthedrill]

My bathroom scale tells a different tale. Either that or gravity is increasing.

[zeugma]

The last leap second added was on December 31, 2016 at 23:59:60 UTC.

I’ve seen a couple of articles recently about leap seconds. Perhaps they are about ready to add one. It’s pretty much a non-issue. There are very few applications that it even matters for, and if they don’t have procedures for how to deal with it, they are morons.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Lonesome in Massachussets.

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[SunkenCiv]

• moment of inertia demonstration site:youtube.com

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] The question of how tidal friction affects the evolution of the Earth–Moon system has a long history. It dates back to 1695, when Halley noted an apparent unexplained discrepancy between ancient and actual eclipse timings. A conclusion in terms of lunar acceleration caused by the transfer of angular momentum from the Earth into the lunar orbit was offered by Dunthorne (1749). [/snip]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/tidal-friction

https://www.google.com/search?q=tidal+transfer+of+momentum

[SunkenCiv]

"Lunar Origin" keyword excerpt, sorted:

• Study suggests Earth and Moon not identical oxygen twins [03/10/2020]
• Space stunner: Moon is shrinking, shocking study reveals [05/13/2019]
• Earth's days used to be just 18 hours long, but the Moon changed that [06/07/2018]
• Days on Earth Are Getting Longer, Thanks to the Moon [06/06/2018]
• The Moon WASN'T formed with one giant impact but had a bombardment birth after 20 moonlets hit... [03/18/2018]
• The moon formed inside a hot cosmic doughnut, scientists say [03/03/2018]
• The Earth and moon formed later than previously thought [06/07/2010]
• Why is the Earth moving away from the sun? [06/01/2009]
• Far side of the moon 'could have been visible from earth' [01/23/2009]
• Moon Is Younger And More Earth-Like Than Thought [12/20/2007]
• When the Days Were Shorter [10/04/2004]
• In the shadow of the Moon [08/31/2004]

[Purdue77]

Perhaps that is why the earth’s rotation has increased. Apply a force to a spinning gyroscope and see what happens.

(Okay, for those just tuning in this is meant to be humor.)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Changes in the distribution of mass can account for an increase in rotation rate, the canonical example being the ice skater drawing in her arms.

There is a long term slowing of the rate of rotation attributed to tidal braking. As the earth rotates the ocean tides lag and exert a torque on the moon’s orbit. Energy is lost by the waves breaking on the shore, angular momentum is preserved by transfer of angular momentum to the moon’s orbit. If not for the loss of energy the earth-moon system would experience libration, as the exchange of momentum caused the earth to alternately speed up and slow down, while the moons orbit would grow and shrink. The moon is already tidally locked to the earth, if the earth-moon system endures another 50 billion years, or so, the earth-moon will be mutually tidally locked, like Pluto-Charon, but the period of the day (and consequently the month) would be about 48 current days.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

This is from Wiki Commons, but the data is from IERS (International Earth Rotational Services) that monitors the orientation of the earth with respect to "fixed stars". The red line is the cumulative deviation of the rotation of the earth from a 24 hour day, the red dots are leap seconds, corrections to UTC. The green line is the smoothed measured "excess length of day", the gray line is the unsmoothed measurements of the length of day. The green line is the derivative of the red line. If it stays negative long enough, we will need to subtract leap seconds.

[21twelve]

Perhaps there is movement of denser materials (magma, etc.) that is migrating towards the center of the earth - drawn by the gravitational forces??

Dog Years (by RUSH)

In a dog’s life
A year is really more like seven
And all too soon a canine
Will be chasing cars in doggy heaven

It seems to me
As we make our own few circles ‘round the sun
We get it backwards
And our seven years go by like one