Leap Second Adds More time to 2016

Peter Whibberley, from the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom, explained that the extra second is needed to prevent time from drifting away from Earth time.

What is a leap second? It is usually added on June or December if it is necessary. “The modeling of the Earth predicts that more and more leap seconds will be called for in the long-term, but we can’t say that one will be needed every year”. With the arrival of atomic clocks, an extremely precise atomic time scale was set up.

Many computing systems use networking protocol to synchronize with the world’s atomic clock but when an additional second is added, some of these systems do not know how to handle it. This is because the Indian Standard Time is 5.30 hours ahead of UTC. There are 86,400 seconds in 24 hours.

It was explained by the officials that a leap second is added to keep the difference between the two clocks less than 0.9 seconds.

The primary objective of leap seconds is to compensate for this drift by scheduling some UTC days with 86401 seconds.

Said Geoff Chester: “By adding a leap second, we’re essentially stopping our atomic clocks to let the Earth catch up”.

He told The Independent earlier this year: “The Moon raises tides on the Earth, and tidal bulges occur in the oceans”.

How often is a leap second? They are irregularly spaced.

Worldwide timekeepers calculate time in two ways: by Earth’s rotation and by a standard length of a second based on atoms. This year, scientists have some adjusting to do.

That single extra second wreaked havoc online, bringing down many apps and websites such as Reddit, Yelp, and LinkedIn.

As mentioned above, the Earth gradually is slowing down every year.

These countries will add the leap second during their respective midnight countdowns.

Therefore, in order to remain as accurate as possible about time, these leap seconds are added.

Almost 50 years ago, scientists agreed to stop measuring time using the stars, and instead use the atomic clock. In recent years, they’ve caused issues with time-based systems like airline reservations and GPS, Colin Dwyer reports for NPR.

In contrast, the atomic clocks are incredibly accurate.

The process, it added, can create problems for data logging applications and telecommunications systems.

Interestingly, while slowing overall, the Earth’s rotation has also been found to speed up following some earthquakes, as the planet’s mass is redistributed.

Just be careful if you’re superstitious and thinking 2016 might still have some tricks up its sleeve.