So, if we say something is 1 billion years old, is that (365 spins on earth’s axis x 1 billion)? Is it (1 trip around the sun x 1 billion), or a different measurement? The answers to those change depending on how it’s calculated.
In other words, if I say I lived one year, that means 24 hr/day for 365 days/year in todays terms. Over time the earth’s orbit of the sun becomes faster and slower changing the meaning of a year. Also, as the earth spins faster and slower on its axis, a day in terms of hours is different relative to today. It breaks my brain.
What about the needs for adjustments for leap years? How does this influence radiometric dating? If a molecule degrades by 1 measurement every 300,000 years, the first 150,000 years are going to be different than the last half. If you want to pinpoint the halfway mark, where is it?
In: Planetary Science
The orbit of the earth does not affect how fast time passes, it’s just something we use to divide up periods of time.
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