2008 will be longer than a year

Photo: imageshack.us.

On December 31 this year, all watches across the planet are "donated" for a second.

Earth rotates around the Sun in 365,2422 days, equivalent to one year with our four seasons. People round it up to 365 days to facilitate calculations. So every four years, we have 0.9688 more days (ie 0.2422 days x 4) at the end of February, turning it into a 29-day month. In the previous 3 years, February was only 28 days.

So far, time has been calculated based on Earth's rotation compared to celestial bodies and the second unit is calculated based on this correlation. But the advent of atomic clocks helps mankind bring about the concept of seconds without caring about the rotation of the earth. Instead, a second is calculated by a signal emitted by electrons in the atom as they change the energy state. Many human technology systems, such as satellite navigation systems, only calculate time according to the atomic clock system.

In 1970, the international community made an agreement to accept two time-measuring systems based on Earth's rotation and the change in the energy state of the electron. But then there was a problem, that is, the planet tends to turn slowly, making two time systems heterogeneous. Therefore, people often have to give an extra second to the atomic time system.

Earth moving agency and international reference systems (IERRSS) are organizations that monitor the difference between two time systems and make additional suggestions or reduce leap seconds as needed. Since 1972, IERRSS has added leap seconds several times, of which the most recent addition took place on December 31, 2005.

Profits will be added at 23:59:59 on the last day of 2008.