August 5, 2025 | 10:16 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A rare phenomenon occurred today, Tuesday, August 5, 2025, as the Earth's rotation was slightly faster than usual, making the day shorter than 24 hours. This event of the shortest day is part of a mysterious trend that baffles scientists: whether the Earth is spinning or rotating faster.
According to Timeanddate.com, today the length of the Earth's sunlight day is recorded 1.25 milliseconds shorter than the normal duration of 86,400 seconds. This figure may not be noticeable in daily life, but it is significant enough to be noted as one of the shortest days in 2025 and in modern observation history.
As reported by Space.com, there were three dates this year when scientists predicted that the Earth's sunlight day was shorter than the normal 24 hours. These are July 9 (1.23 milliseconds shorter), July 22 (1.36 milliseconds), and today, August 5. The shortest day ever recorded occurred on July 5, 2024, being 1.66 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours.
This phenomenon occurred after decades of the Earth's rotation slowing down. Since the official recording began in 1973, days on Earth tended to lengthen due to the gravitational effect of the moon causing friction and slowing the planet's rotation. However, in recent years, the rotation has increased, and scientists have not found a definite explanation.
One factor suspected to affect this acceleration is the moon's position relative to the Earth's equator. Small changes in the moon's declination can affect the tidal force, which in turn impacts the Earth's rotation speed. Nevertheless, the main cause behind this acceleration is still under investigation. A temporary suspicion points to the slowing down of the Earth's liquid core rotation, which may cause the outer part of the planet to spin faster.
Clearly, if this trend continues for the next few years, experts predict that the world may need to add negative leap seconds-something that has never happened before in the history of time measurement.
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