Every Second Counts

Fear not, for this is not going to be a diatribe on some (bad) old UK quiz show hosted by Paul Daniels (does anyone remember this programme or is it just me?) but something altogther more sophisticated. Well, almost. So, as the end of the year approaches and everyone gears up for the usual round of getting drunk (as if most people need to use New Year's Eve as an excuse!), i have been doing the rounds and asking lots of people what they plan on doing with their extra second this year. Met, usually, with some degree of puzzlement (is that a word? Well, it is now) and confusion, i have had to repeatedly explain the fact that, this year, a leap second will be added to December 31st giving us all an extra second to pause for thought. Or perhaps order another drink at the bar.

Y'see, the atomic clocks - the most accurate time keepers on the globe are astonishingly accurate to the point where they will lose a second every billion or so years - so a lot better than your average Swatch. However, the fact that they don't lose time isn't the problem - more the fact that friction causes the Earth's rotation to slow down such that solar time (based on the Earth's rotation on itself) tends to drift out of alignment with the atomic clocks - also known as UTC (Universal Co-ordinated Time). Thus, this year the extra second will be added to bring the two back into closer alingment and will be the first leap second in 7 years. Surprisingly, this will be the 22nd leap second added since the first on eon June 30 1972 (they are added either on the 30 June or 31st December) and there have been no substractions to date. So, remember, this year will be '5...4...3...2...1...1...".