That Second Leapt Out Right in Front of Me

Wow, that second leapt right in front of me on New Year’s Eve and I didn’t even notice?!

No, it couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with the state I was in at the time.

All seriousness aside, if you’re like me you were far too busy at the end of last year to pay attention to this truly interesting time-related news story about the extra leap second that was added to the last hour of 2008.

Yes, it truly happened and none of you were paying attention. You all wasted one second of your precious lives.

Here is the proof that it actually happened, and no, though it looks like it, it is not simply a bootlegged excerpt of a previously unknown episode of the X-Files:

Leap second 2008. U.S. Observatory Master Clock

Did you know that 2008 was a leap year, meaning that we were all given an extra day?

OK, I saw that funny-looking guy at the back with the thick glasses and the pocket protector raise his hand, so I guess some of you knew that already. But what far fewer people realize is that some years also contain leap seconds.

A simple explanation for why the leap second is sometimes needed is because humans have always (at least up to the twentieth century) measured their days against the earth’s orbit of the sun.

The problem with this is that the earth’s orbit is not very accurate, and for this reason we later began using and depending upon atomic clocks, which provide a much more accurate measurement of time.

In order to keep our days, based on the earth’s orbit of the sun, in line with the accuracy of atomic clocks, we sometimes need to add an extra second to the year as an adjustment – this is a leap second.

Why isn’t the rotation of the earth accurate in measuring time? And why do we always need to add an extra second, instead of taking an extra second away?

Hold on, junior – I was just about to answer you.

Because the speed of the earth’s rotation is always decreasing, and not at a stable rate…this is the reason why, once in awhile, we need to do a little fine-tuning on our clocks by tacking on that extra second.

But don’t just take my word for it. Check out this slick bite-sized info piece on the subject from the Associated Press:

But next time they go and add a leap second to the last hour in the year, please pay closer attention.

You might be able to get something done.

Tags: alarm clock blog, clock, clocks, leap second, leap seconds, leap year, measuring time, observatory master clock, onlineclock, rotation of the earth, Time