Scientists have noted that the earth is accelerating; it moves so much faster now that they want to change the length of a day. A day on earth is known as 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds; it is the time that the earth needs to turn once on its axis, which creates day for areas watching the sun, and night for those who are away from there. But don’t throw out your watches and calendars completely yet; the speed difference is only in seconds, although even seconds can have a huge impact on things on and off the earth.
In general, the velocity of the Earth has slowed down over time. The acceleration also changed over time; the Earth’s molten nucleus, liquid atmosphere and liquid oceans, combined with gravity influences by bodies in the environment, such as the Moon, can help slow down the Earth’s deceleration. Precise atomic clocks, space systems and high-tech computer systems require sophisticated, extremely accurate time measurements. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) monitors this slowdown and adds ‘leap seconds’ to the official Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is the gold standard for timekeeping and time saving on the planet. The UTC time standard, commonly used for international timing and as a reference for civilian time in most countries, uses precise atomic time. The addition of “flicker seconds” adjusts these atomic clocks to keep pace with the speed of the earth at the right time.
Since the 1970s, a total of 27 leap seconds have been added to the official time to address the slow speed of the Earth’s rotation. The last scary second was added on New Year’s Eve 2016. However, that suddenly changed during 2020.
On July 19, 2020, the actual day on earth was 1.4602 milliseconds shorter than a full 24 hours, making it the shortest day ever recorded. Since then, the record short day has been broken a total of 28 times. Now in 2021 the days are spinning faster, almost 0.5 milliseconds shorter than a full 24 hours.
Peter Whibberley, senior research scientist at the Time and Frequency Group of the National Physical Laboratory, told The The Telegraph: ‘It is absolutely correct that the earth is now spinning faster than ever in the last 50 years … It is quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed if the rotation of the earth increases further, but it is still too early to say whether this is likely to happen. ”
A negative leap second would have the opposite effect of a leap second; rather than adding a second if necessary, one would simply be removed. A negative snap second has never been used before.
Whibberley added: “There are also international discussions about the future of leap seconds, and it is also possible that the need for a negative leap second could drive the decision to end the leap seconds.”
The difference in time is insignificant to humans, but very important for human activity. Scientists say it will take another 100 years for this acceleration to be noticeable where you could “accelerate” the earth and move time faster. But for the technology that people depend on, these changes can be extremely problematic. For example, communication and navigation systems based on modern satellite technology depend on time corresponding to the normal positions of the sun, moon, and stars. But if these systems are turned off even milliseconds, it can fail, breaking the tools people use.
While scientists are scrambling to find out why this time shift is taking place and how to prevent systems from failing, one thing is certain: 2021 will probably be the shortest year ever recorded due to the fast turning of the earth.
Comments