Page 1 of 1
Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:50 pm
by *BlackFox
A leap second.
International timekeepers are adding a second to the clock at midnight universal time Saturday, June 30, going into July 1. That's 8 p.m. EDT Saturday. Universal time will be 11:59:59 and then the unusual reading of 11:59:60 before it hits midnight.
A combination of factors, including Earth slowing down a bit from the tidal pull of the moon, and an atomic clock that's a hair too fast, means that periodically timekeepers have to synchronize the official atomic clocks, said Daniel Gambis, head of the Earth Orientation Service in Paris that coordinates leap seconds.
Read More Here
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:23 am
by Key-J
Nice,
And i was hoping to wind my watch tonight, guess ill have to compensate a WHOLE second... Jebus.
Although in all seriousness, a Second actually could have a big effect on things around the world, that rely heavily on accurate time, Stocks and GPS for example.
I don't know if this is the right number, but i heard that If a GPS is off by 1 Second, it can make a difference of about 3 Kilometres.
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:23 am
by Squirt
One of the most significant error sources is the GPS receiver's clock. Because of the very large value of the speed of light, c, the estimated distances from the GPS receiver to the satellites, the pseudoranges, are very sensitive to errors in the GPS receiver clock; for example an error of one microsecond (0.000 001 second) corresponds to an error of 300 metres (980 ft).
source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Correcting_a_GPS_receiver.27s_clock
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:52 pm
by Shomari
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:01 pm
by *BlackFox
^ Nice Find!
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:12 am
by EvGa
I missed it! Gawdddd my night is ruined!
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:04 am
by Shomari
I just spent half an hour making sure my watch was precisely on the second.
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:34 pm
by *BlackFox
EvGa wrote:I missed it! Gawdddd my night is ruined!
You should be ashamed of yourself
Re: Saturday night will stretch longer by a second.
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:11 am
by Key-J
I watched it count down live, my heart skipped a beat when i saw that 60 pop up.
It was like i was in a different place for a whole nother second.