atomic clock leap second

[uturniaphobic]

I want put an atomic clock into a room and freeze it to absolute zero. watch it fall out of time, well our time

[Jigglypuff131]

99 seconds = 1 minute and 39 seconds 99 minutes = 1 hour and 39 minutes and 0 seconds 99 hours = 4 days and 3 hours and 0 mintues 99 days = 14 weeks and 1 day (3 months and 8-9 days) 99 weeks = less than 2 years 99 months = more than 8 years 99 years = less than 10 decades and a century 99 decades = less than 10 centuries and a millennium 99 centuries = less than 10 millenniums and a decillennium 99 decillenniums = less than a megamillennium 99 megamillenniums = ? 99 ? = ?? Infinity

[Jigglypuff131]

Leap year = 366 days = 365 days and 6 hours every year (4) = 365 and 24 hours

Super leap year = 367 days = 366 and 24 hours = 365 and 48 hours (365 plus 2)

[hateWinVista]

how much is a atomic clock like 5071A?

[drdaddys]

That's 11 I mean 12 seconds I'm never getting back...

[drdaddys]

What a waste of MY TIME!!!

[TheRocker777]

I live in Australia - so at almost 11am, I had a crack at Usaine Bolt's 100m world record. Unfortunetly the extra second wasn't enough!

[dezodude]

what exactly is a leap second? what causes it? and how are atmoic clocks so accurate?

[elevatorsonly]

It is for the atomic clock to keep up with the Earth's rotation.

[mounsteres]

It is when the earth is slowed down in its orbit by its tides very slightly every so many years.

[HonestJack]

@dezodude A leap second is used for exactly the same reason as a leap year; to resynchronise UTC with Mean Solar Time. We need them because the length of a solar day is not constant, its slowly increasing. And Atomic clocks are accurate because they use a very stable event as a timebase, such as the very stable microwave signal that electrons emit when they change energy states in an atom.

[AA800AA]

THAT was a leap SECOND?

i don't think so...

take a VERY close look at the clock...

As it approaches 23:59:59 the leap second IS 23:59:60. Then AFTER 1 second the clock STARTS out at 00:00:00.

However, by definition 23:59:60 = 00:00:00 of the new year so the "atomic clock" has DOUBLE COUNTED the leap second.

good video tho.

[LeapSecond]

In the UTC time scale, 23:59:60 is not equal to 00:00:00 as you suggest.

23:59:60 IS the leap second. Just like February 29 IS the leap day.

When there is no leap second, every UTC midnight, the clock goes from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00; a total of 86400 seconds in the day.

When there is a leap second the clock goes from 23:59:59 to 23:59:60 to 00:00:00; a total of 86401 seconds in the day.

Does this help explain it?

[Quesic]

wrong...23:59:60 is the extra second

00:00:00 is the first second...so its like 1:32:00

[JosephGubbels]

@AA800AA

A leap second is a positive or negative one second adjustment, added to UTC in June or December to adjust for the slow lengthening of Earth's day.

It does not mean (as the name suggests) that you are skipping one second

So your observation that 23:59:60 = 00:00:00 is correct, and the double counting of this same time is the leap second.

Think about a leap year (similar, though slightly differing in purpose from a leap second), which is not skipped, but longer than a regular year.

[uploadJ]

Question: Was the firmware or S/W involved in inserting this leap second in the 5071A ? How was the change, the addition of the second accomplished?

Okay, a Goog srch on "How to Watch a Leap Second" gave some interesting details ...

BTW, thanks for posting!

[WyoAnimal]

Awesome. I watched it on a Symmetricom 4411, glad someone got that event on video.

Also glad i'm not the only dork that sat around and watched it :)

[N0rthwestRadio]

@WyoAnimal You are not the only one. Did you hear this event on the radio version for WWV ? Dig it up, its here.