Opinion: Earth is spinning faster, days getting shorter

Try not to get dizzy. But on Tuesday and again on August 5, the earth will be spinning faster than usual. It may be hard for us to understand that Earth is not just a huge hunk of rock and water that is simply positioned as the third planet from the sun. Actually, we rotate at the equator at about 1,037 mph. We orbit the sun at approximately 66,627 mph. We move along with the Sun through the Milky Way galaxy at somewhere around 448,000 mph. And we speed through the universe at 70 miles per second. Considering all these movements, the Earth is in motion at the unbelievable speed of 1.3 million miles per hour.

Because an Earth Day is measured by how much time it takes for the globe to make a full rotation on its axis, those two days in July and August — when the Earth’s rotation speeds up — will be shorter than the other 363 days of the year, But don’t reset your clocks. Those two days are not “Leap Days.” 

Writing for Live Science, Amy Arthur points out, “A day on Earth is the length of time needed for our planet to fully rotate on its axis — approximately 86,400 seconds, or 24 hours.” Further, she states, “But Earth’s rotation is affected by a number of factors, including the positions of the sun and moon, changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, and the balance of mass on the planet.”