A day would last 65 hours if the sun did not affect the Earth’s rotation.

According to a study published in the scientific journal Science Advances, a team of geologists has collected data that helps to understand the length of days at different times in planet Earth’s history.

As they explain, days were not always 24 hours andWithout the sun, a day could last up to 65 hours – another study indicates that about two billion years ago, a day lasted 19 hours.

Over the centuries the Moon has been moving away from Earth, a shift that requires Earth’s rotation to slow down; this phenomenon is responsible for longer days. Two billion years ago, there was a break in this process and the days began to last 24 hours.. Based on new evidence, geologists have found a way to measure the length of days if the slowdown hadn’t stopped.

As the scientists explain, a day would have been 65 hours in length if the deceleration hadn’t slowed down – a huge change considering the day only lasted 10 hours at the beginning of Earth’s formation. The study points to The Sun is responsible for accelerating the Earth’s rotation.ie there has not been such an ‘aggressive’ slowdown and the days are not as long as they could have been.

“Sunlight also produces an atmospheric tide with the same kind of bulges. The sun’s gravity pulls on these atmospheric bulges, producing a torque on Earth. However, instead of slowing down Earth’s rotation like the moon does, it speeds up,” said study author and University of Toronto (Canada). ) professor Norman Murray, in an official statement.

A 65 hour day on Earth?

Geologists suggest that the Sun exerted less force for much of Earth’s history, so the Moon had a greater force below the Earth, causing more deceleration than acceleration. But in the so-called “boring billion” era, The power of the Sun was as strong as the power of the Moon. So, it was precisely this force that allowed the current formation of the Earth.

If this acceleration process had not occurred, the temperatures would have been much more extreme, with much hotter days and much colder nights. It is also possible that a few animal species will be absent or other species may appear due to the conditions brought about by the slowdown.

Murray also explains that as a result of an impact of climate change, humanity is changing the length of the day.. “As we increase the temperature of the Earth with global warming, we also increase the resonance frequency. As a result, less torque is coming from the sun and therefore the day length will increase more quickly than usual,” adds the author.

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