The minute with 61 seconds: how leap seconds work

The minute with 61 seconds: how leap seconds work

Some minutes have 61 seconds. The clock reads 23:59:60.

Atomic clocks tick perfectly, but Earth's spin wobbles. In 1972 the average day ran 3.13 thousandths of a second long, so Earth slipped about a second behind each year. To let it catch up, the world's clocks have paused for an extra second 27 times, the last on 31 December 2016.

Send it to whoever thinks a minute is always 60 seconds.

#leapsecond #time #earth #clocks #science