Days are getting longer because the moon is getting farther away from Earth

News24xx.com - New research shows that days on Earth become longer because the moon slowly moves farther away from us.

The natural satellite of Earth, slowly moves away from Earth for about 1.5 inches every year. It causes the Earth to rotate more slowly around its axis.

And now, astronomers studied the Earth’s geology to find out the planet’s history. They found out that long ago in the past, the moon is significantly closer to Earth than it is today. As the result, the day only consisted of 18 hours.

“But now, the moon moves away and the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down,” one of the researcher, Stephen Meyers said, as cited from Space.com.

Planet Earth's rotation is slowing down and it could have disastrous consequences
 
Scientists have warned that the number of earthquakes around the world could see a big increase, due to changes in the speed of the Earth's rotation. 

The fluctuations in the rotation speed are tiny, changing the length of the day by a millisecond at most, but could still potentially release vast amounts of underground energy. 

This will ultimately trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in the heavily-populated tropical regions of the world around the equator.