The world is move to a new time slot?

Time on the watch will not display the current time anymore if the proposal to change the US time standard is adopted at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva (Switzerland) in the middle of this month.

The United States proposes to use the International Atomic Time Standard (TAI) instead of the current International Coordinated Time (UTC).

International Atomic Time is the time measured by the oscillation of electromagnetic waves emitted by atoms or molecules moving from one energy level to another.

'This proposal is supported by most developed countries, and it is likely they will pass at the ITU conference in the middle of this month,' said Dong Shaowu, senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A more accurate TAI time standard could bring many technical benefits to some countries, such as satellite navigation, air traffic control, Dong explained.

'If this proposal is approved, it will not affect social life in the short term. However, some industries need high timing accuracy that will be affected , 'said Liu Changhong, a senior engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The decision to be launched in Geneva will be the most important decision of the time since 1961, when the world accepted the UTC time frame based on GMT (average time at Greenwich). Since then, the time is calculated by the orbit of the earth around the sun. However, the earth is rotating at a slower rate due to many reasons, such as the tidal force, creating a difference between the UTC and TAI standards.

Therefore, an agreement is then made to synchronize two time standards by adding a 'leap second' whenever this distance is greater than 0.9 seconds.

Since 1972 there have been 34 adjustments to synchronize UTC and TAI, Liu said.

Adding a leap second requires a lot of effort and can become a burden for some industries, such as satellite navigation. That is the main reason why some countries want to fix time standards. However, some experts believe that the world should be extremely cautious when making decisions to change time standards, as this will have a profound effect on everyone's life and habits.

For example, many electronic devices used daily will need to be adjusted if the new standard is applied.

This change may not have an immediate impact on people's lives. But in the long run, maybe thousands of years later, switching to TAI can gradually cause a big difference between the official time and the time of people's awareness by changing the speed of the Earth's rotation. .

According to Mr. Dong, China and many other countries like Britain oppose the proposal.

'I don't think we should eliminate the standard now. UTC does not hinder much in the field of scientific research, but eliminating this standard for other time standards can cause unforeseen consequences for people's lives and habits' , home science Wang Tao of China Space Science and Technology Group, said.