Earth's shortest day ever could have 'devastating' effects – what does it mean for us?
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Folks, does it seem like the world is moving faster than normal lately? According to some scientists, it really is!
On June 29, Earth experienced its shortest day ever, completing one rotation in 1.59 milliseconds faster than the usual 24 hours.
Scientists don't know for sure what is causing the Earth to spin a little faster, but they think it might have something to do with climate change, tides, or even the layers of the Earth.
Because Earth is not a perfect sphere and its rotation isn't always regular, a 'leap second' is a second added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep our clocks as close as possible to solar time, which is the movement of the sun.
Since the Earth's rotation has mostly been slowing throughout time, atomic clocks have only added positive leap seconds to keep up. However, it has just been discovered that on June 29, the Earth's rotation was actually recorded spinning faster than usual.
That’s a lot of technical information, but what does it mean?
Earth's shortest day was recently recorded, but changing clocks to make up for it could have a 'devastating effect' on IT systems. Credit: Adastra/Getty Images.
'If Earth's fast rotation continues, it could result in the introduction of the first-ever negative leap second,' the Timeanddate website stated.
The loss of one second is referred to as a 'negative leap second'. This loss is said to have devastating effects, especially on computer systems.
Meta, the technology company that handles Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other sites, confirmed in a blog post last month that this 'negative leap second' could have devastating effects on computer systems all over the world.
Part of the reason for this is that some technological systems are set up with the idea that time only goes forwards.
If the Earth starts to spin faster than usual, the internal clocks of these IT systems might have to move backwards to make up for it. This could cause huge problems for these systems.
'The impact of a negative leap second has never been tested on a large scale; it could have a devastating effect on the software relying on timers or schedulers,' said Meta engineers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi.
They stated that the UTC has already been modified 27 times with positive leap seconds, arguing that this is more than enough to span the entire millennium and urging a stop to the addition of leap seconds.
'Introducing new leap seconds is a risky practice that does more harm than good, and we believe it is time to introduce new technologies to replace it.'
For a more in-depth explanation of the concept of a negative leap second, watch this video below:
Credit: PBS Space Time.
One thing's for sure, though, that even if our days are cut a millisecond shorter, it won't affect our day-to-day lives. So no need to worry, folks!
What are your thoughts? Do you, or did you, work with software that will be impacted?
On June 29, Earth experienced its shortest day ever, completing one rotation in 1.59 milliseconds faster than the usual 24 hours.
Scientists don't know for sure what is causing the Earth to spin a little faster, but they think it might have something to do with climate change, tides, or even the layers of the Earth.
Because Earth is not a perfect sphere and its rotation isn't always regular, a 'leap second' is a second added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep our clocks as close as possible to solar time, which is the movement of the sun.
Since the Earth's rotation has mostly been slowing throughout time, atomic clocks have only added positive leap seconds to keep up. However, it has just been discovered that on June 29, the Earth's rotation was actually recorded spinning faster than usual.
That’s a lot of technical information, but what does it mean?
Earth's shortest day was recently recorded, but changing clocks to make up for it could have a 'devastating effect' on IT systems. Credit: Adastra/Getty Images.
'If Earth's fast rotation continues, it could result in the introduction of the first-ever negative leap second,' the Timeanddate website stated.
The loss of one second is referred to as a 'negative leap second'. This loss is said to have devastating effects, especially on computer systems.
Meta, the technology company that handles Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other sites, confirmed in a blog post last month that this 'negative leap second' could have devastating effects on computer systems all over the world.
Part of the reason for this is that some technological systems are set up with the idea that time only goes forwards.
If the Earth starts to spin faster than usual, the internal clocks of these IT systems might have to move backwards to make up for it. This could cause huge problems for these systems.
'The impact of a negative leap second has never been tested on a large scale; it could have a devastating effect on the software relying on timers or schedulers,' said Meta engineers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi.
They stated that the UTC has already been modified 27 times with positive leap seconds, arguing that this is more than enough to span the entire millennium and urging a stop to the addition of leap seconds.
'Introducing new leap seconds is a risky practice that does more harm than good, and we believe it is time to introduce new technologies to replace it.'
For a more in-depth explanation of the concept of a negative leap second, watch this video below:
Credit: PBS Space Time.
One thing's for sure, though, that even if our days are cut a millisecond shorter, it won't affect our day-to-day lives. So no need to worry, folks!
What are your thoughts? Do you, or did you, work with software that will be impacted?
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. Before that there was a hole in the ozone layer and we were going to be burnt alive! Another was that the Barrier Reef was dying because the crown of thorn starfish was eating it away 
. Then it was global warming which didn’t happen! Now it’s climate change! We don’t have heavy rain now, we have rain bombs! No wind gusts, it’s catastrophic winds! I could go on and on and so will this planet. It’s all a big joke on us gullible humans by the scientists who need to justify their huge pay cheques!
