Before this year began, the shortest day since 1973 was July 5, 2005, when the Earth's rotation took 1.0516 milliseconds less than 86,400 seconds. But in the middle of 2020, the Earth beat that record no less than 28 times. The shortest day of all came on July 19, when the Earth completed its rotation in 1.4602 milliseconds less than 86,400 seconds.

As Earth rotates, the Moon's gravity causes the oceans to seem to rise and fall. (The Sun also does this, but not as much.) There is a little bit of friction between the tides and the turning Earth, causing the rotation to slow down just a little. As Earth slows, it lets the Moon creep away.

Earth’s rotation period relative to the fixed stars is known as a “stellar day”, which is 86,164.098903691 seconds of mean solar time (or 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0989 seconds).

Every day, the Earth spins once around its axis, making sunrises and sunsets a daily feature of life on the planet. It has done so since it formed 4.6 billion years ago, and it will continue to do...

For decades, the Earth has taken slightly longer than 24 hours to complete a rotation, that is, until the July reversal. The most recent positive time leap was implemented in 2016, according to ...

Other Facts About Earth's Rotation. Earth spins at about 1,000 miles per hour when measuring Earth's rotation at the equator. That's even faster than the speed of an airplane!

The rotation of earth around its axis is elaborated on Facts about Earth’s Rotation. The earth is moving counter-clockwise. The rotation occurred from west to the east. The rotation of earth’s axis meets its surface at the Northern Hemisphere, which lies on the Terrestrial North Pole or Geographic North Pole. The point is not the same with the north magnetic pole of earth. It takes 24 hours for earth to complete its rotation.

That would give plenty of time for humans, animals and plants to get used to the change. By the laws of physics, the slowest the Earth could slow its spin would be 1 rotation every 365 days.

Video for 8th Grade ScienceDescription of day and Night along with earth's rotation