Is the Earth contracting? |
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| Authors: | G M Blake |
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| Institution: | 10 Acacia Avenue, Chapeltown, Sheffield S30 4PQ |
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| Abstract: | The fossil record of the variation of the solar day and the synodic month with geological time is examined for evidence of the steady contraction of the Earth postulated by Lyttleton to explain a discrepancy between the apparent secular accelerations of the Sun and Moon. Data for the Phanerozoic and the Precambrian agree in showing that a change in the Earth's moment of inertia as large as that suggested by Lyttleton is only consistent with the fossil record if the secular change in the gravitational constant ?/ G ≥+ 4 × 10–11/yr. A variation of G of this magnitude appears to be ruled out by a recent analysis of lunar occultation observations utilizing Atomic Time. |
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