[nidokidos] Do We really need a leap second?

 

Click here to get beautiful emails Click here to join forum

---

Everyone knows what a leap year is, but did you know there are also leap seconds?  At least for now, because the leap seconds very existence was debated in Geneva Yesterday:  with Britain, China and Canada fighting to keep it against the USA, Germany and France. Introduced globally 40 years ago, the leap second was designed to keep atomic time  (used by computer systems) and astronomical or solar time (the Earths rotation) in sync with each other. Discrepancy Atomic time, which GPS and telecommunications depend on, is so accurate that it gains or loses no more than a second every million years. However, astronomical time alters because of variations in the Earth rotation and can be affected  by things like earthquakes. The leap second was needed to keep the two time scales coordinated  so atomic time doesn't jump ahead of astronomical time, the International Telecommunication  Union (ITU-R) explained to Yahoo! News. In fact, a leap second has been added at irregular intervals � a total of 24 times since  its introduction in 1972. Without the leap second keeping time in check, it is predicted that the difference between  atomic time and astronomical time will increase at a rate of approximately one second per year �  meaning that in 550 years, the difference between atomic time and astronomical time will be  about an hour, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) projects. The decision Thursday Radiotelecommunication Assembly saw delegates from member states discuss the elimination of the leap second and voting for or against the controversial proposal. A decision to remove the leap second completely would then need to be approved at the  ITU-R World Radiocommunication Conference due to take place next week. The next leap second is expected to be added at midnight on 30 June. However,  Thursday debate, which an ITU-R spokesperson described as very polarised could see all that change. Against the leap second  Countries like France, Italy, Germany and the USA are calling for an end to the leap second  because telecommunications from GPS systems to mobile phone networks must be manually  adjusted by a  whole second to keep in sync with the change every year or two. This adaptation of a second, critics argue, leaves systems open to the risk of error.  If the leap second was abolished, time would be more standard. The ITU-R, a United Nations agency, said in a statement:  The benefits of the change would be a continuous time scale available for all the modern electronic navigation  and computerised systems to operate with and eliminate the need for specialised ad hoc time systems. For the leap second Britain, China and Canada are opposed to the change because without that leap second,  atomic and astronomical time will drift further apart, which would need to be corrected by  adding a single leap second, minute or hour at an agreed point in time which would be  even more technically challenging and costly. Without leap seconds we will eventually lose the link between our perception of time  and our own experiences of day and night, added the ITU-R spokeswoman

Science explained: What is a leap second?

But what is a leap second? Why do some people want to get rid of it? And what would happen if we do?

Science reporter Rebecca Morelle heads to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, to explain.

http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/170064-Science-explained-What-is-a-leap-second

 

Stop emails | Join Us by Email | Join from Web | Visit Yahoo! Group | Join Nidokidos Forum

---

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

• New Members 577

Visit Your Group

===================================================
NidokidoS Group for best of forwarded mails
To join us , send an email to 
nidokidos-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Be the part of Nidokidos , Join our Forum
http://www.nidokidos.org


to share your emails with us, send them at
nidokidos@yahoogroups.com


click below to Subscribe to nidokidos forum updates
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=nidokidosforum
===================================================

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___