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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
[Science & Society]
To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue Scientists are debating whether to continue the practice of occasionally inserting leap seconds in order to keep official, atomic-based time in sync with time based on Earth's rotation. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060422/bob8.asp |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
Funny,funny,funny.
Leap seconds are based on the calendar system and they were adding 86 400 of these leap seconds every fourth year since antiquity and found it necessary to make further adjustments in the middle ages like taking away 864 000 seconds (10 days). What they have'nt done since the discovery of the Earth's axial rotation is mix the 24 hour clock system and the Earth's rotation at 15 degrees per hour with the calendrical system which requires 'leap' corrections. It is very easy to understand the principles which keep the pace of a clock fixed to axial rotation at 15 degrees per hour.The pre-Copernican astronomers recognised that the total length of the day is never the same so they created a system to equalise the variations over the course of a year.Using the noon observation they applied a correction of minutes and seconds to keep one 24 hour day rolling into the next 24 hour day.The correction is known as the Equation of Time. When Copernicus and the early heliocentric astronomers introduced the concept of the axial rotation of the Earth,they simply divided the Earth and 24 hours into terrestial longitudes corresponding to 1 degree every four minutes,15 degrees every hour and 24 hours 360 degrees in total.It has nothing to do with the Earth's motion to the stars but try and tell that to these numbskulls. So Sam,go tell the experts that although the Equation of Time has faded into the background,it still keeps one 24 hour day elapsing into the next 24 hour day.You can even build a calendar system on that principle but for goodness sake,do not make the mistake of linking axial rotation to the stars otherwise you are justifying the Earth's motions using a system of 3 years of 365 days and 1 year of 366 days !!!!. |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
oriel36 wrote:
What they have'nt done since the discovery of the Earth's axial rotation is mix the 24 hour clock system and the Earth's rotation at 15 degrees per hour with the calendrical system which requires 'leap' corrections. Your grasp of punctuation is truly...unique. Jim -- Find me at : http://www.ursaminorbeta.co.uk AIM/iChatAV: JCAndrew2 Skype : greyarea |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
Does anybody really know what time it is?
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
Bg Harve wrote:
Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
starburst wrote:
Bg Harve wrote: Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? Hey! If you two guys take those two lines, and add a few others, you just might have the makings of a hit song there . . . If someone hadn't beaten it to you first. (^_^) Sincerely, --- Dave Nakamoto ======================================== Miller's Daughter --- There, I was visited by a bizarre, strange imp of a man. Sam Shovel --- Pee Wee Herman? Miller's Daughter --- Not THAT strange. |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
Jim wrote: oriel36 wrote: What they have'nt done since the discovery of the Earth's axial rotation is mix the 24 hour clock system and the Earth's rotation at 15 degrees per hour with the calendrical system which requires 'leap' corrections. Your grasp of punctuation is truly...unique. You are replying to a computer program, not a human. Those who insist on doing that often end up in the same killfile as the chatterbot. |
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To Leap or Not to Leap: Scientists debate a timely issue
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