Are solar years getting longer?
Also, the mean solar day is getting longer at a rate of about 1.5 ms per century. These effects will cause the calendar to be nearly a day behind in 3200.
Atomic clocks, combined with precise astronomical measurements, have revealed that the length of a day is suddenly getting longer, and scientists don't know why. This has critical impacts not just on our timekeeping, but also things like GPS and other technologies that govern our modern life.
Consider this - the Earth is spinning faster than ever, and it's making our days shorter. The shortest day ever recorded was June 29. It was shorter than a typical 24 hours by 1.59 milliseconds. Some scientists say it's climate change; others say maybe earthquakes; still others suggest movement inside the Earth's core.
In timely news, scientists have determined that some 1.4 billion years ago, an Earth day—that is, a full rotation around its axis—took 18 hours and 41 minutes, rather than the familiar 24 hours, The Guardian reports.
They found that years during that time were 372 days long and days were 23 and a half hours long rather than 24 hours long. It was previously known that days were shorter in the past, but this is the most accurate count found for the late Cretaceous period, according to the statement.
Maybe if you were incredibly perceptive you might have noticed that. But you definitely would've noticed the change in day length between now and 400 millions years ago. 400 million years ago, days were 21 and 1/2 hours long.
A new study reveals that a day on our planet once lasted approximately 23.5 hours and it wasn't that long ago that days were significantly shorter. The finding was made possible by studying the fossilized shells of a mollusk that died 70 million years ago.
The speed at which the Earth spins is affected by all of its distinct parts, including its inner and outer layers, tides, ocean levels, and climate. One hypothesis for the recent acceleration stems from the fact that some of these parts are changing rapidly due to the climate crisis.
IERS added leap seconds 28 times since 1972 through 2016. On July 28, 2022 it confirmed that it would not be adding a leap second at the end of 2022, which is hardly surprising given that Earth now appears to be speeding up. For the first time the trend is clearly now in the other direction.
The industry standard for a solar panel's productive lifetime is 25-30 years. However, a solar panel won't die after 25-30 years, rather, their output will decrease a significant amount below what the manufacturer projected.
What happens to solar panels after 25 years?
Most solar panel companies will provide a standard 25-year warranty for the expected life expectancy of the solar panels. After 25 years, your solar panels won't necessarily need to be replaced; however, their ability to absorb sunlight will be reduced.
Solar panels last about 20 years, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The great news is that, with proper maintenance, your panel may actually run for as long as 40-50 years.
