this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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This helps explain why days seem shorter as we age, the Earth is spinning faster due to the conservation of angular momentum. The days are literally shorter.
fun fact, days have actually been getting longer pretty much since formation of earth (well moon to be correct). reason iirc is that moon is slowly moving away from earth, and this results in some dynamics changing and as a result earth spins slower. like billions of years ago, it was closer to 23 hours.
ps - very rusty memory right now, should have skipped writing instead of half borked fact
You're correct. There are more factors involved too, including climate change, since more ice melting means more water as well, moving the mass away from poles to the center to also be affected by the mind pull too.
All the factors end up changing things by about a millisecond per century. The effect is akin to a spinning figure skater having their arms up over their head vs directly out from their body.
Fun fact: China has built such a massive dam that it has slowed down (albeit only slightly*) the Earth’s rotation
*if i am not mistaken, it was just enough to be misured, nothing too crazy