For decades, timekeepers have been adding leap seconds to synchronise atomic clocks with Earth's rotation, which is gradually slowing due to tidal friction.
01Summary
- 01The practice of adding leap seconds began in 1972 and has been applied 27 times since.
- 02Leap seconds are added to compensate for the Earth's slowing rotation caused by tidal forces.
- 03In 2022, the world's timekeepers voted to abolish leap seconds by 2035, replacing them with a larger adjustment called a leap minute.
- 04Leap seconds cause problems for computing systems because they can trigger software errors.
02Why it matters
This change affects the global timing infrastructure used by navigation systems, financial networks, and internet services, potentially disrupting technologies that rely on precise timekeeping.
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