Scientists May Have Solved Why Earth’s Days Were Once Only 19 Hours

Amaze Lab

One day on Earth equals 24-hours, but that wasn’t always the case. There was once a time on our planet called the Mid Proterozoic period or “boring billion,” a time between 1.8 and .8 billion years ago. At that point a day on Earth was only 19 hours and now experts might know why.

Transcript

00:00One day on Earth equals 24 hours, but that wasn't always the case.

00:07Science Alert reports there was once a time on our planet called the Mid-Proterozoic Period,

00:11or the Boring Billion, a time between 1.8 and .8 billion years ago.

00:16At that time, our planet's geochemical processes slowed significantly,

00:19and even Earth's plate tectonics stood nearly still.

00:22Also, a day on Earth slowed down to just 19 hours,

00:25and scientists might now finally know why,

00:27and it might be at least in part the Moon's fault.

00:30Earth and the Moon have always had an interesting gravitational dance.

00:33After all, we can thank our planet's only natural satellite for the tides.

00:37But the Moon has also slowly moved away from Earth,

00:39stealing some of its rotational speed as it does so.

00:42There are a lot of theories about why Earth's day length changed and when it did so,

00:46with some theories suggesting it flatlined and then slowed at different points in history.

00:50But this new study also took into account the Great Oxidation Event,

00:53or when our planet's oxygen levels spiked and an ozone layer came into being.

00:57During that time, the researchers say our planet's solar atmospheric tides

01:00and its oceanic tides would have reached a balance,

01:03which, including the Moon's closer orbit, would have resulted in a constant 19-hour day.

01:08Thank you for listening.

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