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What are leap seconds, and why have we scrapped them?

What are leap seconds, and why have we scrapped them?

Science Weekly vor 3 Jahren

Scientists and government officials recently voted to scrap leap seconds, which are added to synchronise atomic time and astronomical time. Madeleine Finlay speaks to scientist JT Janssen about what can go wrong when this happens

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At a recent conference in France, scientists and government
representatives voted to scrap the leap second by 2035. Leap
seconds are added periodically to synchronise atomic time and
astronomical time, which get out of sync because of variations in
the Earth’s rotation. Madeleine Finlay speaks to JT Janssen, the
chief scientist at NPL, the National Physical Laboratory, about the
differences between these two times, and what can go wrong when
leap seconds are added to our clocks. Help support our independent
journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod