Days are longer now than they used to be.

Days have been getting longer, but not at a speed that you would notice.

The Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the sun and once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to the stars. Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation. Atomic clocks show that a modern day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds than a century ago, slowly increasing the rate at which UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is adjusted by leap seconds.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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50 Comments

billyboy915

The ignorance in the comments is appalling. Those conflating the length of a day with the seasonal length of daylight hours seem to forget that the exact opposite simultaneously occurs in the northern and southern hemispheres. The 1.7 milliseconds, although imperceptible in our daily lives, are a real difference no matter how small and that difference is scientifically and repeatably measurable. The fact is, the earth's rotation is slowing. It is science. It is real. Here is a quote that not only applies to Americans, but to many worldwide. “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” ~ Isaac Asimov

Bill Coe

Good question FCOWELL (even thought I don't usually support true/false questions). The naysayers obviously didn't understand the explanation.

John McLardie

'Our American Cousins' do make some stunningly inane comments. There is nothing wrong with the question and the answer is perfectly correct. Astronomers and geo-scientists have known for decades that days are lengthening due to the moon receding from the planet.

Lynne Zeman

I received Quiz Club Stories today that explained the moon is increasing it's distance from the earth which is affecting the earth's length of days. Interesting article. I recommend it.

Nic Irish

billyboy915, I couldn't agree more. "In politics and in life ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know that you’re talking about"... "The rejection of facts, the rejection of reason and science that is the path to decline." - Barack Obama

Char

There is nothing wrong with this question it's true in more ways than the one right now..why not research instead of harrassing our authors..

Cheryl Maxwell

billyboy915, INDEED!!!

earlepg

Richard D. Boyle, Surely a quote to remember. Nobody says it, but far too many live it.

Richard D. Boyle

billyboy915, Great quote Billy. Sad but all too true.

dunlopherb

In first grade I read a book called codes to captains and it said that it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds for the earth to travel around the Sun once. And I guess the whole second is all that our technology had for time measurement. And if that's the case that is not a quarter of a day yet we add one whole day after 4 years or four quarters of the day. And this spawns the question of where did the time go?

fdeisner

jess tru todd, To keep time we make it an even 24 hours a day. Actually it is more like 24.25 hours per day. That is why we have leap year every 4 years to make out for the fraction of the day longer than 24 hours.

Joe Mangan

Robert Sears, take it. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Joe Mangan

John McLardie, you say "'Our American Cousins' do make some stunningly inane comments." George Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two countries divided by a common language. Given much of the comment here, maybe they would be less divided if they didn't have a common language.

Joe Mangan

It's good news if you're retired, not so good if you're still working.

Joe Mangan

jeff grinsgo, no, they blamed the attempted coup d'etat of January 2021 on him, you know, when his neanderthals tried to exchange U.S democracy for Chinese democracy.