new years 2006, delayed? Options

[omgah_itsmaggiex]

Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first "leap second" in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.

The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week.

"Enjoy New Year's Eve a second longer," the institute said in an explanatory notice. "You can toot your horn an extra second this year."

Coordinated Universal Time coincides with winter time in London. On the U.S. East Coast, the extra second occurs just before 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Atomic clocks at that moment will read 23:59:60 before rolling over to all zeros.

A leap second is added to keep uniform timekeeping within 0.9 second of the Earth's rotational time, which can speed up or slow down because of many factors, including ocean tides. The first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, according to NIST, an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Since 1999 until recently, the two time standards have been in close enough synch to escape any need to add a leap second, NIST said.

Although it is possible to have a negative leap second -- that is, a second deducted from Coordinated Universal Time -- so far all have been add-ons, reflecting the Earth's general slowing trend due to tidal braking.

Deciding when to introduce a leap second is the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, a standards-setting body. Under an international pact, the preference for leap seconds is December 31 or June 30.

Precise time measurements are needed for high-speed communications systems among other modern technologies.

so does that mean were counting back from 61? this is confusing. is this year leap year?

[Levy2k6]

just don't worry about it, it's not like it really matters... no1 gets the timing exact anyways.

[*mipadi*]

so does that mean were counting back from 61? this is confusing. is this year leap year?

I believe it is occurring before 12 AM EST, so it probably won't affect any countdowns. And no, the next leap year is 2008. A leap year adds a whole day to the calendar; this just adds a second.

[heyyfrankie]

it's just a second...

[Saeglopur]

^ A lotta things can happen in a second.

[heyyfrankie]

true. ;\

[-lana]

that's interesting.. ;S

[*Weird addiction*]

hmm...interesting. Scientists amaze me.

[*Programmer*]

weird....never thought...wow

[klumzy]

wee got a extra second this year -.-
if i remember correctly, they add the sec around 7pm?

[Rachel]

^yes...it says that in the article.

Anyways, that is crrrazy and cool. I probably won't be sober enough to remember that we have an extra second.

[heyyfrankie]

even if you were sober...you wouldn't be able to tell! LMAO

[Aoiro]

Weww...
An extra second!
MORE SLEEP.

[*nightmare4taki*]

Wow, Splendid

[HolyMoly]

OM OM OM GOSH! WE GOT AN EXTRA SECOND! SO much to do in a second!!

Lmao, Scientest are really cool, but Seriously, adding an extra second does'nt make any sense at all. Just one second. Holy Moly.

[*StanleyThePanda*]

haha one second...wow thats funny

"Enjoy New Year's Eve a second longer" hahahaha

[*anubis*]

a second can really make a difference on earth in the long run

think of it this way:

we're only humans so we're usually only concerned with the effects that go on during our lifetimes--things that we would actually be affected by.

let's say we lost a second every year. just one second.

that's 16.7 minutes every thousand years.

that's 694 days every million years (which is almost two years behind in time )

and you're probably thinking "hah.. a million years. like that makes a difference"

but earth is what? 2 billion years old?

so we would be 3,805 YEARS behind if we were to lose a second off of every year.

nvm. i found out earth is actually 4.55 billion years old

so let's do some math here. 4,550,000,000 / 60 / 24 / 365.25 = 8,650 YEARS

8,650 years behind if we were to really lose a second every year

meaning, we'd be in the year 6645 B.C.E

that's 3 thousand years older than the oldest human remains ever found. and that's only one second.

so i'd say, a second does make a difference

[imm]

^^^^ That's so....=O. It makes me want to also spend my time better -_=x

WHOAAAA that's tight. Where'd you find this? Hahaha all the clocks in my house are atomic...I wanna watch this. =D

[Mr. Slowjamz]

at least a little time to prepare to kiss that special someone thant you`ve been waiting for .

[iiTsDAYNA]

Whoa. A second. Weehee! 1 second

[demolished]

Wow ... =D i wish it was 24 hours. LOL.

[gelionie]

Wow this is amazing.
I must remember to count down from 61 on New Year's Eve.

[EddieV]

I am...confused...

[WHOngos144]

^ Me too

[Archana]

I personally don't care, not like a second is going to affect me.
But... interesting.. I wonder what could happen? I mean, a few things can be affected in the world.. but nothing that drastic, right?

Cool article.