Monday, February 6, 2012

Leap Seconds & We Have a Winner

Congratulations to Erin Shakespeare: winner of the $25 gift card. Thanks a ton to everyone who participated and for following me. You all totally rock!
Winner selected via random.org.



  • And Now, Leap Seconds:

Who knew that such a thing existed? Apparently, every so often the global time keepers of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service have to stretch time by adding an extra second to the 24 hour period in order to keep our clocks in sync with the heavens.

Now scientists want to abolish the leap second. If they do, the time on our clocks will no longer have any relation to the planetary movements.

In our days of everything electronic, the leap second complicates things such as global positioning satellites, electronic communications, and the internet. Computerized clocks aren't wired to compensate for a leap second.

The downfall is that over time (ha ha) atomic clocks would say it was midday in the middle of the night. In 500 years the man-made time would be off by one hour. Eventually, we would lose the time-based link we associate with night and day.

So, no more looking at the sun to calculate the time of day? Call me sentimental, but it kind of makes me sad.

What do you think?

13 comments:

  1. Thanks Julie! I'm so excited. Oooooh, now I get to plan what I'll spend my loot on....

    And seriously? Leap seconds? I had not clue. How interesting.

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  2. Weird. Only time will tell. [OR WILL IT??]

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  3. Crazy scientist would do such a thing....maybe they are mad scientist bent on creating a race of nightwalkers!! Interesting. Congrats Erin

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    1. I'm sure you'll come up with some crazy horror story about the Leap Second scientists!

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  4. Very interesting...though my brain can't even begin to wrap around it! Maybe when it's an infinite brain, and not a finite one....!!
    Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs

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    1. It is a crazy concept. I'm amazed they can even notice that our clocks and the earth's rotation is out of sync by one second.

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  5. Could we maybe cut the leap seconds and just add an hour every 500 years? Like a long term daylight savings or something. Then you only have to deal with all the electronic stuff every 500 years.

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    1. And everyone gets an extra one hour nap! I love it! Thanks for the magnets, they're super cute!

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  6. I'd rather them get rid of daylight savings. I like the idea of it being daylight later! It would make the winter not as dreary feeling. Also leap year is how I remember that it is a summer Olympic year:)

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