Earth's Day Lengthening: Will We See a 25-Hour Day?

• Earth's rotation is gradually slowing due to the Moon's gravitational pull, which creates tidal bulges acting as a 'brake'.
• This slowing adds approximately 1.7 milliseconds to the day length per century, a tiny change that accumulates over vast periods.
• Scientists estimate Earth could experience a 25-hour day in roughly 200 million years, though this is a natural, ongoing process.
• Historically, Earth's day length has varied significantly; it was about 19 hours a billion years ago and less than 10 hours shortly after formation.
• The change is too gradual to cause concern, allowing evolutionary processes to adapt, and is already managed by 'leap seconds' in atomic clocks.

Why It Matters: Earth's day is slowly lengthening due to cosmic forces, potentially reaching 25 hours in millions of years.