<p><strong>The Moon is in the process of tide-locking the Earth...</strong></p>
<p>Tidal interactions between the Moon and the crust and oceans of Earth have been slowing down the Earth's rotation since the moon's formation. In the past 4-odd billion years, the Earth's rotational period has gone from about 6 hours to about 24. These tidal interactions are also responsible for the Moon receding from Earth, and given enough time, is projected to result in the orbital and rotational period of the mutually-tide-locked Earth-Moon system stabilizing at about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Locking_of_the_larger_body" rel="nofollow noreferrer">47 days long</a>.</p>
<p><strong>But the Sun might run out the clock...</strong></p>
<p>How long is this tide-locking projected to take? My quick googling on the answer comes up with a number of different estimates, from <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/18795/23813">7.5</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_of_the_Moon#Tidal_evolution" rel="nofollow noreferrer">50 billion years</a>.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Locking_of_the_larger_body" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia: Tidal Locking</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Earth is not expected to become tidally locked to the Moon before the
Sun becomes a red giant and engulfs Earth and the Moon.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-03T14:29:08.840Z
2020-10-03T14:29:08.840Z
notovny
<p>According to</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking" rel="noreferrer">Tidal locking</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The effect arises between two bodies when their gravitational
  interaction slows a body's rotation until it becomes tidally locked.
  Over many millions of years, the interaction forces changes to their
  orbits and rotation rates as a result of energy exchange and heat
  dissipation. When one of the bodies reaches a state where there is no
  longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a
  complete orbit, it is said to be tidally locked.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Is there any planet or satellite in the solar system in the process of getting tidally locked?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-24T13:27:21.587Z
interesting question!
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-24T16:15:37.433Z
Probably nearly all of them that are not already tidally locked, although for some of them the process will take inordinately long.
antlersoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-03T08:13:14.880Z
@Pablo, you probably didn't read [your linked article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking) because it provides a list of the satellites of different planets that are tidally locked.
Infinity Milestone
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-03T16:36:10.083Z
@AyushBhatt Probably that list wasnt there when I wrote the question. I can't assure since it was long ago. Articles in Wikipedia are daily edited
Pablo
<solar-system><tidal-locking>
Is there any planet or satellite in the solar system in the process of getting tidally locked?
Pablo
# Is there any planet or satellite in the solar system in the process of getting tidally locked?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-24)

According to

[Tidal locking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking)

> The effect arises between two bodies when their gravitational
> interaction slows a body's rotation until it becomes tidally locked.
> Over many millions of years, the interaction forces changes to their
> orbits and rotation rates as a result of energy exchange and heat
> dissipation. When one of the bodies reaches a state where there is no
> longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a
> complete orbit, it is said to be tidally locked.

Is there any planet or satellite in the solar system in the process of getting tidally locked?

**Tags:** solar-system, tidal-locking

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: interesting question!  
> **username_2**: Probably nearly all of them that are not already tidally locked, although for some of them the process will take inordinately long.  
> **username_3**: @username_0, you probably didn't read [your linked article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking) because it provides a list of the satellites of different planets that are tidally locked.  
> **username_0**: @AyushBhatt Probably that list wasnt there when I wrote the question. I can't assure since it was long ago. Articles in Wikipedia are daily edited  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-10-03. Score: 2

**The Moon is in the process of tide-locking the Earth...**

Tidal interactions between the Moon and the crust and oceans of Earth have been slowing down the Earth's rotation since the moon's formation. In the past 4-odd billion years, the Earth's rotational period has gone from about 6 hours to about 24. These tidal interactions are also responsible for the Moon receding from Earth, and given enough time, is projected to result in the orbital and rotational period of the mutually-tide-locked Earth-Moon system stabilizing at about [47 days long](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Locking_of_the_larger_body).

**But the Sun might run out the clock...**

How long is this tide-locking projected to take? My quick googling on the answer comes up with a number of different estimates, from [7.5](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/18795/23813) to [50 billion years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_of_the_Moon#Tidal_evolution).

According to [Wikipedia: Tidal Locking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Locking_of_the_larger_body):

> Earth is not expected to become tidally locked to the Moon before the
> Sun becomes a red giant and engulfs Earth and the Moon.


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