Earth is suddenly spinning faster than usual, and it can spell doom for us
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Earth is suddenly spinning faster than usual, and it can spell doom for us
It is well known that it takes about 24 hours for the Earth to rotate on its axis. But this established fact is seeing some major seismic changes. According to scientists, on July 29, Earth completed a full rotation in less than 24 hours, which is about 1.59 milliseconds short of its standard time frame.
Notably, this is not the first time the blue planet has rotated rapidly. However, atomic clocks have recently revealed that the Earth's rotation is accelerating. In 2020, Earth recorded its shortest month and July 19 was recorded as the shortest day of that year. It was 1.47 milliseconds in under 24 hours.
The following year, the Earth continued to rotate at a generally increased speed, but it did not break any records. On June 29, 2022, Earth made its fastest revolution ever, and on July 26, 2022, there was a day that lasted 1.50 milliseconds less.
Why is Earth rotating fast?
- There is currently no conclusive evidence to understand why the Earth is spinning so fast.
- But there are a few key theories that are doing the rounds.
- Some claim that the poles have seen a drop in weight due to the melting of glaciers, others note that the molten core of our planet's interior is moving over time.
- While some believe that seismic activity may have been the cause, others believe it is due to the "Chandler wobble", which is a small deviation in Earth's geographic poles on its surface.
What are the consequences?
According to reports, the rotation of the Earth's bound could have major consequences on atomic clocks, which are used in GPS satellites. It will not take into account the changing rotation of the Earth. This means that GPS satellites – which have already been corrected for the effect of Einstein's theory of relativity – will quickly become useless.Apart from that, smartphones, computers, and other communications systems will render useless as they are synchronised with Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers.