Water Cooler Wednesdays
Is this week feeling a little longer than usual? What if I told you this was the longest week you’ve had in quite some time? How do I know this? Because science says so. Apparently, there are not just leap years, but leap seconds. These are seconds added to a day (usually June 30th or December 31st), when needed, to compensate for the slowing of Earth’s rotation. Earth’s rotation is slowing down due to the ‘gravitational tug-of-war’ between Earth, the Moon and the Sun.
A typical day is supposed to have 86,400 seconds, but in actuality, that hasn’t been the case since the early 1800s. The average solar day is about two milliseconds slower than that – about 86,400.2 seconds. That doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up and there needs to be a way to compensate. Enter the leap second. The frequency of these leap seconds is based on a complex and precise technique to determine how often they’re needed to balance time.
Leap seconds were introduced in 1972. Before that time, adjustments were made a different way. From 1972 to 1999, a leap second was needed about once a year. But we’ve only needed to add four since the year 2000. No one really knows exactly why leap seconds haven’t been needed as much in recent years, but it is most likely due to geologic events. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural events can cause Earth’s rotation to vary by a fraction of a second here and there.
So next time you hear someone complain about how long this week has felt, let them know they’re not crazy. 😉
Check out some of our other recent posts on the world of judgment recovery:
10 Reasons to Hire a Judgment Recovery Specialist
Persistence – The Key to Success in Judgment Recovery
What if the judgment debtor is active military?
Ten Useful Things to Know about Your Debtor
Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. (2015, June 27). Why June 30 will get an extra second. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 29, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150627081224.htm
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