“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, one one-second, … Happy New Year!”
If you want to be extremely accurate, this is the countdown you may have to recite as you count down to 2013.
The New Year is going to arrive one second late this year as a “leap second” is added onto the clocks to adjust for the fact that the planet is gradually slowing down as it spins on its axis. This tweak helps to correct the time-lag which shows up on the ultra-accurate atomic clocks which are used by many things including GPS systems and the Internet-based Network Time Protocol.
The extra second will make 2008 – already longer because of the extra day on February 29 – the longest year since 1992.
For a more complete description, check out the link below.
- This year will be just a second longer [MSNBC]
No related posts.
