The independent rotation of the Earth’s core is slowing down: now the surface is more… fast – consequences for the planet’s magnetic field – Babushka [videos]

Inside the Earth is a solid core. Which rotates at a different speed than the rest of the Earth. A study in “Nature” confirms that it is slowing down, but that does not mean the end of the world is coming.

It looks like a babushka doll, with each doll spinning on its own. Earth has a solid, heavy inner core that spins at a different speed than the rest of the planet. Sometimes it speeds up, sometimes it slows down, and now — according to researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Southern California — it’s in a state of such exhaustion that it’s outpacing the speed of Earth’s surface.

excess

If we could, standing still at a certain point in the Earth’s crust, observe the inner core 5,000 kilometres beneath our feet, we would see it losing ground. On the contrary, it was moving faster than us until a few years ago. The reason for these oscillations – described in the scientific journal Nature – also puzzles geologists as they struggle to understand what is happening deep within our planet.

But the first fear that comes to mind—that the Earth’s rotation will reverse—is unfounded. The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west. The differences in rotation speed we’re talking about are small: a few tenths of a degree per day.

The fact that the Earth’s surface has passed the inner core could cause a slight difference in the magnetic field and the speed of the Earth’s rotation as a whole. However, the change in the length of day and night would not force us to reset our clocks: it only takes a few milliseconds.

With information from Republic.It

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