3 ms·
This is especially true when you have things like large earthquakes[0] changing the rotational speed of the earth slightly. [0]: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/ea
by extrapickles 8y ago
This is especially true when you have things like large earthquakes[0] changing the rotational speed of the earth slightly.
[0]: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/japanquake/earth20110314.html https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/japanquake/earth2...
- Sharlin 8y agoYep, things leap seconds have been used for. The moon also constantly robs Earth angular momentum via tidal interactions. But an even bigger issue is that the sidereal day (one 360° rotation of Earth as measured against distant stars) is not 24 hours but roughly four minutes less. And the length of the solar day also varies over the year due to the slight eccentricity of Earth’s orbit—days near perihelion are slightly longer than near aphelion. And then there are the higher-order effects caused by gravitational interaction with other planets...