What will YOU do with today’s extra second? “Leap second” to be added at midnight UTC.
A year consists of 31,536,000 seconds (over 31.5 million seconds). But today will have one more second — a “LEAP SECOND”. Why? Because the Earth’s rotation slows about 1.8 milliseconds per day due to the braking effect of the world’s ocean waves, which messes things up over time (pun, intended). So the “International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service” (yes, there is such a thing) will tack on an extra tick to the world’s clocks at midnight UTC (7PM Eastern). For more info: http://wapo.st/2hEx5mS
Enjoy the extra tick!
Image courtesy of EarthSky.org