“As long as there were fewer hours in a day,” no one ever said.
Nevertheless, the Earth does not slow down for anyone. In fact, according to global time officials, it is speeding up, prompting suggestions to shorten the minute by a second, the Telegraph reported.
Data shows that our past 24-hour daily rotation is gradually decreasing, making the day a little shorter. For example, Sunday lasted only 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59.9998927 seconds, according to TimeAndDate.com. And while the planet’s rotational speed may accelerate or slow down slightly from day to day, due to natural terrestrial and celestial changes, astronomical calendar trends indicate that in recent years have generally become shorter.
Example: 2020 beat the shortest day of 2005 28 times, and 2021 is expected to be about 19 milliseconds shorter than a normal year, with an average daily deficit of 0.5 milliseconds.
The clock watchers of the world are used to tinkering with time. Since the development of the atomic clock in the 1960s, ‘leap seconds’ have been added 27 times to delay rotation, according to EarthSky.org. However, the last time the adjustment was needed was in 2016. Since then, the Earth has been spinning faster than normal, and now scientists are suggesting a possible “negative leap second” to balance time with our position in space.
“It is certainly correct that the Earth is now spinning faster than it has ever been in the past 50 years,” Peter Whibberley, senior researcher with the National Physical Laboratory’s time and frequency group, told the Telegraph.
“It is quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed as the Earth’s rotational speed continues to increase, but it is too early to say whether this is likely to happen,” Whibberley continued. He added that an “international discussion … about the future of leap seconds” would determine whether timekeepers continue their efforts to make up for lost time.
The fractional difference may not be felt on an individual scale, but the implications are critical to science and technology, as satellite communications and navigation systems rely on timing consistent with the cosmos.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, based in Paris, is tasked with disclosing scheduled leap seconds to the nations of the world, but some argue that the practice of adding and removing seconds to correct time is more confusing than good can cause. In 2012, an additional leap second caused server crashes on a number of Internet sites, including Reddit, Yelp, and LinkedIn, while also disrupting those using Linux operating systems and software with Javascript.
As a result, some national leaders have pushed for the abolition of leap second corrections altogether in favor of using an unfettered atomic clock – shorter days and all. That decision will ultimately be left to the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023, according to the Telegraph.