Posted on 07/24/2025 2:56:39 PM PDT by Signalman
Two days this summer have been unusually short, with the shortest expected on Aug. 5, leading global timekeepers to consider adding a negative leap second.
The Earth's rotation has accelerated in recent decades, leading scientists to consider adding the first ever negative leap second.
Earth is spinning so fast that global timekeepers are considering something that's never been done before: adding a negative leap second.
So far this year, July 9 and July 22 have been unusually short — by about 1.3 and 1.4 milliseconds, respectively. However, Aug. 5 is expected to be even shorter, losing roughly 1.5 milliseconds, according to timeanddate.com.
This follows a trend that has been observed since 2020. "We now have slightly shorter days than in the last 50 years," Dirk Piester, head of Time Dissemination Group 4.42 at Germany's national meteorology institute, previously told Live Science.
Earth's energy imbalance is rising much faster than scientists expected — and now researchers worry they might lose the means to figure out why an abstract illustration of a clock with swirls of light Groundbreaking atomic clock is off by less than 1 second every 100 million years
Why is Earth spinning faster? A day on Earth lasts roughly 86,400 seconds, or 24 hours — the time it takes for the planet to fully rotate on its axis. But exactly how long it takes to perform one full rotation depends on many factors, including the positions of the sun and the moon, and Earth's gravitational field.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Everybody extend your arms! Quick!
Obama slowed the rise of the oceans; he’s got this in the bag.
They should tax it.
Saw the movie. The Core.
Obviously.
“...researchers worry they might lose the means to figure out why an abstract illustration of a clock with swirls of light Groundbreaking atomic clock is off by less than 1 second every 100 million years”
Whew...those poor researchers, trying to figure out why an abstract illustration of a groundbreaking atomic clock is swirling with light. I’d be stumped, too.
Climate change.
I hope this won’t be like the fuss around Y2K, for those of you old enough to remember.
Losing diameter?
maybe Mother Earth is spinning faster trying to shake off the humans that are causing so much trouble
Milliseconds? Seriously? I’m not losing any sleep over this ridiculous news. When I start to spin off the earth then I’ll take this seriously.
I had noticed and pondered on why my walking speed has increased.
You would think that with the moon moving farther and farther away, the Erf would be slowing, like as ice skater (not to be confused with an illegal) spreading her arms to slow her pirouette.
MY first thought:)
The planet has numerous ways to disrupt or dispense with life on it. Floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, ice ages, and various other ways beyond the control of the planet, like meteors, solar eruptions, etc.
Oh no! Maybe Hank Johnson was right! Seriously, though, read the Book of Revelation -— some apocalyptic outer space catastrophes are prophesied that will negatively affect the earth in an unprecedented way.
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