The year 2020 will be remembered for many things, most of which are unpleasant, but it will also be remembered as one of the fastest on record, due to the fast toll of our planet. If this trend continues, it could result in an unprecedented ‘negative jump second’.
Our watches fall out of operation, but instead of running slowly as usual, they start running a little fast. The reason for this has to do with the surprising number of short days experienced last year, and the result of the increase in our planet’s turn so slightly. As time and date reports, 2020 had the 28 shortest days since 1960.
It takes the earth 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, to make a complete turn around its axis, which scientists call an average Sunday. However, the term “average” is the key, as slight deviations are experienced every day. This became clear in the 1960s with the development of atomic time observation. Atomic clocks measures the Earth’s rotation relative to a distant astronomical object, usually a fixed star. Scientists have learned that the length of a single day can deviate by a few milliseconds (ms), in which 1 ms equals 0.001 seconds.
The volatility in the turn of our planet is nothing to worry about, and you certainly do not have to cling to your couch for fear of being thrown into it. space. The volatility of the rotational speed of the earth is a normal phenomenon and is influenced by factors such as the internal attenuation of the molten core of the planet, oceans, winds and atmospheric pressure.
To be clear, we are talking about very small numbers. For example, today is expected to last 24 hours, 0 minutes and 0.0792 ms, while yesterday it lasted 24 hours, 0 minutes and 0.2561 ms. according to in Time and Date, a website run by journalists and researchers. This is a difference of 0.1769 ms, so yes, minuschool well. However, some days may end in an unusual way, such as on July 5, 2005, when the earth’s rotation was 1.0516 ms less than the average Sunday.
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The year 2020 was quite extraordinary in this respect and beat the record of 2005 no less than 28 times. The shortest of these was on July 19, when the earth’s rotation was 1.4602 ms below the average Sunday.
It is interesting that in 2021 we can expect more of the same. ‘[A]an average day in 2021 will be 0.05 ms shorter than 86 400 seconds, ” reports Time and Date, which means that ‘atomic clocks will accumulate a delay of about 19 ms throughout the year.’
Usually these clocks run fast every year with a few hundred milliseconds, which is a squeak second added to keep clocks in sync.
“A leap second is a second that is added to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to synchronize with the astronomical time.” according to at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. “UTC is an atomic time scale, based on the performance of atomic clocks that are more stable than the Earth’s rotational speed.”
The last time this happened was in 2016. Oblique seconds are usually added during midnight on New Year’s Eve, so if you were celebrating at the time and did not wait for an extra full second, you ushered in 2017 a little too early.
We do not have to appeal to a jump second since 2016, and given the acceleration of the Earth’s turn, we may have to do something we’ve never done before take away a full second. In other words, a negative jump second.
This action will serve the same purpose as a positive leap second, that is to keep UTC in step with our atomic clocks. That said, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, which decides on such matters, currently has no plans to do so.
It can happen. And if at some point in time we have to call a negative second, you can impress your friends by announcing the new year exactly one second before everyone else. You are welcome.