We already know from our Earth facts that the Earth is spinning fast. It’s shocking to learn that the Earth, spinning at over 1,000 miles per hour, is actually slowing down. Over time, this can add up to a lot of time.
The cause of the slowdown is the moon! One of the most surprising Earth facts is that the moon has such a big impact on the Earth. The friction caused by the Moon and other objects, such as other planets, pulls on the Earth and slows it down.
This is a good thing, when you consider each year the length of a day gets a little longer. Based on the rate that the Earth is slowing down, when the moon first formed billions of years ago, the Earth was rotating so fast, Scientists estimate that when the moon formed billions of years ago and started to slow the earth down, a full day — the time for one complete revolution of Earth’s axis — was just 5.5 hours long. That must have made for some fast sunsets!
