j.nudd Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 WASHINGTON - Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first ?leap second? in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth?s rotation.The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week. ?Enjoy New Year?s Eve a second longer,? the institute said in an explanatory notice. ?You can toot your horn an extra second this year.? Full Story The wait will be unbearable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_sphinx_ Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 One second today, one minute tomorrow...one month after??!! Oh when will this year end?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevastopol Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 wow, i didnt know they could do that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalN. Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 thats pretty crazy. I was not expecting that to happpen. does this have to do with anything from the tsunami? I heard a rumor that it had caused the earth to "lose" its gravitational orbit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptist Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 thats pretty crazy. I was not expecting that to happpen. does this have to do with anything from the tsunami? I heard a rumor that it had caused the earth to "lose" its gravitational orbit. that just seems not right to me.. but im not a scientist. i think this: because we have an extra 6 hour every year or something. Every 4 years we get an extra day 366 instead of 365. Maby it's just a few milliseconds more we get every year or something? im confusing myself :| :pinch: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 thats pretty crazy. I was not expecting that to happpen. does this have to do with anything from the tsunami? I heard a rumor that it had caused the earth to "lose" its gravitational orbit. The Earth did ring like a bell when the EarthQuake happened, but us losing orbit around the sun would cause massive chaos on a global scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPaul Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 ****, well that screwed my New Year's plans up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.nudd Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 Yeah, now I have to change the time on my New Year's Party invitations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deryck Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 What basically occurs is that since that there is a discrepancy between a day as defined by atomic clocks and the full a full revolution of the Earth's axis. The full revolution of the Earth's axis is not exactly 24 hours but the day is defined to be 24 hours. Therefore overtime there is going to be a growong discrepancy. The leap second is there to alleviate the discrepancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPaul Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 What basically occurs is that since that there is a discrepancy between a day as defined by atomic clocks and the full a full revolution of the Earth's axis. The full revolution of the Earth's axis is not exactly 24 hours but the day is defined to be 24 hours. Therefore overtime there is going to be a growong discrepancy. The leap second is there to alleviate the discrepancy. ... actually it's because the rotation of the Earth is slowing down, making the day get 1.7ms longer every century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernatch Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 that's not nearly enough to explain a whole extra second after just 7 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intensecogitation Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 I thought it was because the atomic clocks were faster than the Earth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdsams Veteran Posted January 5, 2006 Veteran Share Posted January 5, 2006 heh this must be because of that stupid jump day where everyone was supposed to jump...remeber that :shiftyninja: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 ... actually it's because the rotation of the Earth is slowing down, making the day get 1.7ms longer every century. And this is due to the moon losing it's orbit from earth, it's slowly going away. I thought it was because the atomic clocks were faster than the Earth... that doesn't make any sense, to me at least :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deryck Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 ... actually it's because the rotation of the Earth is slowing down, making the day get 1.7ms longer every century. Thanks for that, I knew I missed another point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scudworth Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 thats pretty crazy. I was not expecting that to happpen. does this have to do with anything from the tsunami? I heard a rumor that it had caused the earth to "lose" its gravitational orbit. not sure about that, but I was watching a Documentary around Christmas about the Tsunami, and they said the force from the earthquake made the earth tilt a little further on its axis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurmoth Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Wow, that is very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intensecogitation Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 that doesn't make any sense, to me at least hmm.gif http://livescience.com/technology/050705_leap_second.html Luckily I found the link. XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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