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Universe Handbook: Will the Earth Stop Spinning?

It's slowed down, will it stop?

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Thanks to thousands of years’ worth of observations recorded by astronomers, we know that the Earth’s rotation has slowed down over the years!

The rotation – or the length of a day – can vary by as much as a millionth of a second. It hasn’t been a steady decline, but over that period of time the decline has been up to 25 millionths of a second per year.

This is all due to the way that the moon interacts with the tidal bulges on our planet, but there’s also a relationship between the weather and the Earth’s rotation.

Don’t worry too much though, at this rate it’ll still be spinning for another 5 billion years!

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Universe Handbook

Look up all the facts in the Universe Handbook!

More From Universe Handbook