“If only there were fewer hours in a day,” said no one, ever.
However, the Earth slows down for anyone. In fact, according to global time officials, it is accelerating, prompting suggestions to shorten the minute by one second, reported the Telegraph.
The data shows that our previous 24-hour daily rotation is gradually decreasing, making the day a little shorter. For example, Sunday only lasted 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59.99998927 seconds, according to TimeAndDate.com. And although the rate of rotation of the planet may increase or decrease slightly from one day to the next, due to natural terrestrial and celestial changes, trends in the astronomical calendar indicate that recent years have generally become shorter.
Case in point, 2020 hit 28 times the shortest day of 2005 and 2021 is scheduled to be about 19 milliseconds less than a typical year, with an average daily deficit of 0.5 milliseconds.
World clock watchers are used to messing with time. Since the development of the atomic clock in the 1960s, “leap seconds” have been added 27 times to compensate slowing down rotation, according to EarthSky.org. However, the last time the adjustment was requested was in 2016. Since then, the Earth has started to spin faster than normal, and now scientists suggest a possible “second negative jump” to put time in balance with the our position in space.
“It is certainly correct that the Earth is spinning faster now than at any time in the past 50 years,” Peter Whibberley, senior researcher in the National Physical Laboratory’s time and frequency group, told the Telegraph.
“It is quite possible that a second negative leap will be necessary if the Earth’s rate of rotation increases further, but it is too early to say whether that will likely happen,” continued Whibberley. He added that an “international discussion … about the future of leap seconds” would determine whether or not timekeepers would continue their efforts to make up for lost time.
The fractional difference may not be felt on an individual scale, but the implications are critical for science and technology, as satellite communication and navigation systems depend on time consistent with the cosmos.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, based in Paris, is tasked with declaring planned leap seconds for the nations of the world, but some argue that the practice of adding and removing seconds to correct time may be causing more confusion. than well. In 2012, an additional leap second caused server crashes on several internet sites, including Reddit, Yelp and LinkedIn, while disrupting those using Linux operating systems and software using Javascript.
As a result, some national leaders have been pushing to end leap second corrections in favor of using an unrestricted atomic clock – shorter days and all. That decision will be left to the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023, according to the Telegraph.