Although the 24-hour clock is fixed, the length of each day does vary slightly. Scientists recently announced something very interesting, the planet earth spinning faster and each day is actually getting shorter.
The Earth’s faster rotation may require adjustments to keep the calendar on track, although this does not put the Earth in any type of danger.
Scientists explain that the reason for the increase in rotation speed is not profound. Factors affecting it include the moon’s gravity, snowfall levels and mountain erosion. Over the past few decades, precision atomic clocks have allowed scientists to measure time and make more precise adjustments.
For example, the concept of leap seconds was added in the past. The researchers noted that July 19 was a significantly shorter day, 1.4602 milliseconds shorter than the 24-hour period. The previous record for the shortest number of days was set in 2005.
As the Earth spins faster, we may need to add negative leap seconds in the coming years to keep our clocks synchronized, researchers say.
