Earth Travel On Time, Again

burgburgburg writes "The NY Times has an interesting article about a rather puzzling phenomena: for the fifth year in a row, the Earth's travel through space is right on time. The rate that the Earth travels through space has slowed ever so slightly for millenia. To compensate for this, since 1972, scientists have added a "leap second" at the end of each year. The problem: Since 1999, the Earth has been on time. The recognition of a need for a leap second was an unintended consequence of the invention of the atomic clock. Suggested reasons for the unexpected punctuality: the tides, weather and changes in the Earth's core."

Comments

Immortality finally!

[khrustalicious]

The earth is actually slowing down, which result in all of living for hundreds of more years. The only problem is I'm already bored. What the hell am I going to do with all the free time?

Re:Required Mass Movement for 1 sec/year

[willtsmith]

If all other potential influenes are removes, than yes. However, other evidence says otherwise.

Sings of global warming

Punctuality or fraud?

[rice_burners_suck]

The Earth did not slow down, and if it did, it could not be measured. One second is added to (or subtracted from) the atomic clock each year because of the clock's built-in accuracy. In other words, just because it is "atomic" doesn't make it God's clock. It gains or loses time like any other clock. And it was built so that the gain or loss will amount to approximately one second each year.

Wackos hear about this second and attribute it to things like the speed of light slowing down, proof that Armageddon is coming. Or that the Earth is slowing down, leading to the same result.

If scientists are pushing this, then they are doing it so they can get a grant to research the topic... These types of things revolve around money, and are usually a pile of bull.

Because think about it: How exactly do you go about measuring the position of the Earth at a specific time each year, when the positions of all objects in space are relative to one another, and when all objects are constantly moving in a way that is extremely difficult to compute? Just to compute the relative positions of two massive bodies in motion in space requires some horrendously complicated calculus because of factors like the gravitation pull of one object on the other. Add a third object and the math becomes exponentially more complicated. In fact, nobody knows exactly how to do it, and all of these computations (like sending people to the moon) are approximated. (Why do you think the astronauts have to do some things manually when they get there?) And you mean to tell me that someone can measure the position of the Earth every year since 1971 within one second of accuracy and tell that there is a difference? Bullshit.