The atomic wall reveals that the rotation speed of the earth varies – and we enter many faster days.
When you say “oh what a day went by fast”, in some cases you may be more right than you think. The speed of the Earth’s equator is 1,674.4 km / h or 465.10 m / s. A cycle of 86,400 seconds gives 24 hours, but sometimes the rotation speed actually increases, which decreases the day. It writes Time and date.
Many factors are thought to contribute to the varying speed of the planet’s rotation, somewhat happening in the molten center, but the oceans and our atmosphere. With the right atomic clocks, we were able to reveal just how big and often these variations occur.
It turns out that in 2020 the speed was unusually high. The previous milestone in the future was July 5, 2005. Then that day was 1.0516 milliseconds shorter than the scheduled 86,400 seconds, giving it the shortest day since 1973. But did not strike in 2020 with speeds below 28, which, among other things, was good on July 19 with 1.4602 milliseconds.
Researchers predict that 2021 will be even faster and shorter. They estimate the average day will be 0.05 milliseconds per 86,400 seconds – and throughout the year, the accumulated time lost should be 19 milliseconds.
If true, 2021 will be the shortest year in decades. The last day of the year did not reach 86,400 seconds in 1937.
