Winter Solstice Tonight Could Be The Longest In The Earth’s History

Every year, on the nights of 21st and 22nd December, the Earth just revolves around its axis a little bit slower. This phenomenon leads the residents of the Northern Hemisphere to experience the longest nights of the year.

This year, there was the possibility that the Earth will face the longest solstice in Earth’s history. Every year, the Earth slows down a little bit on its axis which results into about 15 to 25 millionth second increment per each year.

That /4/not seem like much but scientists are adding a leap second to every passing year. This observation led to believe that this solstice might become the longest. The moon is also playing its role in slowing the Earth down gradually.

The tidal waves of the Earth are producing friction on the surface, slowing down the orbit of the Earth upon its axis causing an elliptical tide movement and restricting Earth’s motion. Each year, the friction decreases the Earth’s movement. The orbit around the Sun also gets affected by the slowing down of the Earth.

The Earth rotation around its axis around the sun causes climatic change. During the solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is facing away from the Sun which causes the night to be longer.

Many scientists debated the night being the longest in Earth’s history. We are currently caught in the middle of environmental deterioration. This has caused drastic climatic changes which has increased the density of the water bodies.

Melting ice caps have distributed the polarity of the Earth gradually affecting the mass of the Earth. Now if mass and density are affected, the velocity will definitely be affected. The relationship of velocity is inversely proportional to density hence the velocity is not decreasing, it’s sped up.

The speeding process has led to this solstice not being the longest. The specialist making the prior claim have officially restated their facts and corrected their statements.

Source: Vox