Historically, the second was defined based on the Earth's rotation. However, with the advent of extremely precise modern atomic clocks, the definition was changed in 1967. A second is currently defined as being the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods/oscillations of radiation from a Cesium-133 atom at the ground state (blah blah science words blah blah).
The speed of Earth's rotation varies, while atomic clocks are unwavering. On an average day, the difference is around 0.002 seconds, which amounts to approximately 1 second per 500 days. In order to synchronize the atomic clocks with the Earth's observed rotation, the atomic clocks are occasionally instructed to add an extra second – the Leap Second.
So, on New Year's Eve, kick back, relax, and enjoy your extra second. I know I will.
5 comments:
So... a sun dial is capable of more accuracy than an atomic clock?
Science is the devil! technology be &@^#ed!
Yes, I very often feel as if I don't have enought time to accomplish everything on my "to do" list. So glad they added that extra second, that will help so much.
Wait, isn't a sun dial based on science too?
Does that mean that when we count down to midnight we should count down to -1?
This is fantastic news. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to have enough time to do everything this year but now, now I'm good.
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