The length of Earth's day is only 24 hours, rather than over 60 hours, thanks to a temporary balance between the gravitational tidal forces from the moon and the sun.
When the moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago, probably from a giant impact, it was much closer to Earth than it is now and our planet was spinning much faster, with a day length of less than 10 hours. Since then, the moon has been gradually moving outward, stealing some of Earth's angular momentum, with the result that Earth's rotation has slowed. Today, as we all know, a day on Earth lasts 24 hours.
