• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
The Moon is moving away from the Earth and is causing shocking changes to time

Home> News> Science

Updated 11:00 5 Apr 2025 GMT+1Published 10:59 5 Apr 2025 GMT+1

The Moon is moving away from the Earth and is causing shocking changes to time

The Moon is slowly spinning away from Earth

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

The Moon is, very slowly, moving away from the Earth and one day, it's going to impact time as we know it.

The reason why it's been gradually pulling away from our planet is all because of gravity and something called tidal forces.

When the Moon’s gravity pulls on Earth, this causes the oceans to bulge out, creating tides.

Advert

However, when the Earth is spinning, the tidal bulge isn’t directly under the Moon. Instead, it’s slightly ahead of it.

This basically creates a sort-of 'gravitational tug-of-war', and because the tidal bulge is ahead of the Moon, it pulls the Moon forward in its orbit.

And the energy has caused the Moon to slowly move further away, at a rate of about 3.82 centimetres (1.5 inches) a year.

As our planet drifts away from the Moon, Earth’s days are getting longer by about 1.7 milliseconds every 100 years.

Scientists are able to calculate this after astronauts from Apollo missions left mirrors on the moon.

Advert

By bouncing lasers off the mirrors, the distance to the Moon can be measured pretty accurately.

"While 3.78cm may not seem like much, this small difference over a long enough period of time could affect life on Earth, making the planet slow down," space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock told the BBC.

The Moon is moving away from Earth (Getty Stock Images)
The Moon is moving away from Earth (Getty Stock Images)

"On early Earth, when the Moon was newly formed, days were five hours long, but with the Moon's braking effect operating on the Earth for the last 4.5bn years, days have slowed down to the 24 hours that we are familiar with now, and they will continue to slow down in the future."

On how this was calculated, the scientist explained: "By looking at the daily growth bands of corals we can calculate the numbers of days that occurred per year in past periods, and from this we can see that days are getting longer, at a rate of 19 hours every 4.5bn years.

Advert

"The length of a day, or in other words the rotation speed of the planet, plays a big part in its stability."

The Moon is moving away at a rate of about 3.82 centimetres (1.5 inches) a year (Getty Stock Images)
The Moon is moving away at a rate of about 3.82 centimetres (1.5 inches) a year (Getty Stock Images)

Dr Aderin-Pocock compared it 'a plate spinning on a stick,' and that the 'key is to have the plate spinning fast, as if it slows down it crashes to the floor'.

She warned: "In a similar way, as the Earth's rotation slows down, our whole planet may start to slowly wobble and this will have a devastating effect on our seasons."

Although 'the human race has little to fear,' the scientist notes that 'most animals are not so adaptable and if these changes happened rapidly due to an unstable planetary wobble, then most animals would not be able to evolve quickly enough to hibernate or migrate out of harm's way'.

Advert

If it makes you feel any better, you and everyone you've ever known will be long dead by then.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

Topics: Space, Science

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Man who killed twisted murderer Jeffrey Dahmer explains why he did it

    The notorious serial killer was killed in 1994

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Elon Musk forms his 'own political party' after fallout with Trump

    Looks like the tech billionaire isn't done with politics after all

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Woman who lives in underground bunker with no windows reveals how much she saves on rent

    At least she's ready for the apocalypse

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Man who chose to live underwater for 100 days to see what would happen to his body reveals shocking impact it had

    Dr Joseph Dituri spent 100 days at sea in 2023

    News
  • Earth is set to obtain another moon next week
  • Earth set to obtain ‘second moon’ tonight that won’t be seen again until 2055
  • Best time to see incredible ‘planetary parade’ tonight as six planets will be visible from Earth
  • Exact time out-of-control spacecraft is set to crash land back into Earth and it could hit UK