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On-Time Earth Baffles Scientists Experts: Planet's Speed Through Space Should Slow Slightly, But Hasn't

(AP)

A phenomenon that has scientists puzzled

Experts agree that the rate at which the Earth travels through space has slowed ever so slightly for millennia. To make the world's official time agree with where the Earth actually is in space, scientists in 1972 started adding an extra "leap second" on the last day of the year.

For 28 years, scientists repeated the procedure. But in 1999, they discovered the Earth was no longer lagging behind.

At the National Institute for Science and Technology in Boulder, spokesman Fred McGehan said most scientists agree the Earth's orbit around the sun has been gradually slowing for millennia. But he said they don't have a good explanation for why it's suddenly on schedule.

Possible explanations include the tides, weather and changes in the Earth's core, he said.

The leap second was an unexpected consequence of the 1955 invention of the atomic clock, which use the electromagnetic radiation emanated by Cesium atoms to measure time. It is extremely reliable.

Atomic-based Coordinated Universal Time was implemented in 1972, superseding the astronomically determined Greenwich Mean Time.

Leap seconds can be a big deal, affecting everything from communication, navigation and air traffic control systems to the computers that link global financial markets.

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What is time? That is the question.

"What is time? That is the question."

Sundials work best.

Scientifically speaking, of course. Since the referenced article is talking about measuring the length of a day according to the rotation of the Earth, a sundial by definition gives an accurate reading.

It also works on Mars. Although Mars has a slightly different rate of rotation, the sundial gives a completely dependable indication of local noon. Midnight is more problematic.

Our particular orbit, out here in the asteroid belt, was chosen to be as close to four years in duration as possible. That makes calculating back and forth slightly easier.

At four years, (4 X 365.25 days = 1461 days), and an estimated 186,000,000 miles from the Sun, our local speed of orbit would be two pi times 186,000,000 miles / 1461 X 24 hours.

I get approximately 33,330 miles per hour.

By comparison, Earth is rocketing along.

"What is time? That is the question."

Oh, that's an easy one:

Time Is A River

Time is a river. We watch it go by,
A current event that our memories try.
But upstream it branches, again and again,
And which is the true course, is hard to know then.

And downstream the eddies, will hold you a tad,
Until you’ve forgotten, the purpose you had.
We all end up going, along with the flow,
Just checking out where all that stuff has to go.

It’s turbid, this water, with sediment laced,
Betokening troubles and woes it has faced.
The end of its worries, released to the sea,
In final surrender, just like you and me.

So meantime we tarry, and ponder the way,
That all of these tears have arrived here today,
The clouds that have cried them, no longer are seen,
The sadness surrendered, just to make the grass green.

But laughter awakens the music and song,
And even the river, joins in chuckling along.
The birds pipe a melody, tender and sweet,
The wind plays the brushes, emphasizing each tweet.

And lifting our spirits, like kites on a string,
As we loll by this river, which was born in the Spring.
This river may carry, all of us to our fate,
But I’m going somewhere, before it’s too late.

I’ll float with the clouds, leave behind the kite’s string,
Mosey on up to Heaven, see what that journey brings.
I won’t ask no questions, I’ll just look around,
And when I return, I won’t say what I found.

You all have to answer, the questions you need,
For the form of your blossom, is the shape of your seed.
And the thing that you’ll find, will depend where you look,
I found lots of answers, over there in that brook.

NicknamedBob . . . . . . . . . . . . April 11, 2005