There was no leap second added at the beginning of 2004!
This is a sign that the Earth's rotation is currently a little faster than expected. In modern times, a leap second is needed every 500 days or so. This keeps our atomic clocks in sync with the earths rotation, which is slightly longer than 24 hours.
But the last leap second we had was at the beginning of 1999. Scientists are a little puzzled by this. In general the earth is slowing down it's rotation. Some theories to account for the current speed up are: position of other planets in our solar system, and current weather changes.
Maybe Global Warming is causing more change to our Earth than I thought!
References / more reading:
Discovery Channel
International Earth Rotation Service (Bulletin C)
About the Earth's rotation and the Moon slowing it down
Feedback
30/12/2004 8:47 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
I think that the world is spinning faster because the giant gnomes that control the rotation of the planets have been drinking heavily and are not paying attention to their jobs.
Either that or it is a plot by a group of potheads from Bakersfield, CA to get a better buzz off their weed.
6/01/2005 9:16 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
i think the tsunami had something to do with this.
31/01/2005 8:03 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
I think it is the gnomes.
12/02/2005 1:38 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
It's the gnomes.
7/06/2005 2:45 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
hi everyone, i'm sitting here in the lovely (haha) little country of Britain, it's 3:20 in the morning and its getting light outside, in fact its really light, hmm, now this time of year im pretty sure its not meant to get light until 4:30(ish) or later, and it's only been like this this year, and its definatley not zodiacal light, its proper sunlight, so maybe this whole theory is true, who knows.
11/02/2006 10:01 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
the gnomes are all powerful! they will all force the earth to spin faster until the centripital force throws the atmosphere nd ourselves out of orbit...wait! that's me too! screw the gnomes, and i'm leavin' before...someone's comin'. hey! who the heck are you?! what the...nooooo!....................YOU HUMANS ARE NO MATCH FOR US! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HAAA!
26/08/2006 3:09 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
Hey there, I believe the real reason has something to do with Bible Prophcy. Jesus Christ said in the book of Matthew chp 24:v22 (speaking about the Great Tribulation)"Unless those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elects sake those days will be shortened." Also in the book of Revelation Jesus tell John about the Fourth Trumpet. Rev 8:v12 then the fourth angel sounded: And a thrid of the sun was struck, a thrid of the moon, and a thrid of the stars, so that a thrid of them were darkened. A thrid of the day did not shine, and like wise the night.
My question is do you Know Christ? My pray is you do.
[email protected]
23/06/2007 7:59 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
i think its slowin , lets be 4 real peeps!
23/06/2007 8:03 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
look i have a project on the earths rotation i'm from africa,i dont live next to lions,this is a CITY!!!!! please tell people its nt a jungle in africa,well all i can say is slowing down
18/07/2007 8:21 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
Hi all I am South Africa, Durban, Yes the earth is spinning faster, NASA has 12 earthologists working on ways to stop this from happening, Its seems that has much has we try to find ways to stop the earth from spinning faster then normal we are not Gods and we can always find ways to make earth suit us but we cannot control earth.
29/02/2008 1:15 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
The Earth is spinning faster because their is a secret cult of over 1 billion people who always run in one direction at an established time of the day.
1/02/2009 5:05 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
ohh no, like everything, it is the global financial crisis to blame for this. We are in these "tough times" right now and they are causing a lot of inconvenient things to happen, including causing the Earth to spin faster. This means everything on Earth is faster. A year now only takes the time of 11 months, but we dont see it because we still experience the same number of days and nights, but the days are shorter and so are the nights. Everything has adapted to the faster time so we dont really notice. TIME IS SPEEDING UP!!!!!! Oh well, happiness can only be felt in the present, and if you spend all your present worrying about making a happier future, you will spend all your present in the future stressing about planning the happiness to come in the future of that future.
4/08/2009 4:48 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
that is very true johan
29/09/2009 1:26 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
I love watching the moom and stars. These days I can stand behind the verandah pole and obscure the moon, and within 1 minute it has moved to where I can see it. Happens with stars too. I guess this can only be the earth moving faster, and my guess is the core of the earth is getting hotter.
13/11/2009 5:58 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
It is spinning faster, trust me, I'm the only one left on Earth that is still trustworthy. I never lie. The Earth is also wobbling. The poles are moving. The cause? Again, trust me, you really don't need to know, just make peace with the creator, this is the utmost importance. Trust me.
1/12/2009 1:52 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
My head is spinning faster
3/01/2010 7:01 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
The scientist can't explain the earth spinning faster because it has nothing to do with theory. The world is going to end.
19/01/2010 10:06 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
hahahah gnomes fer sure
6/02/2010 7:50 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
if not all of you.. most of you are bunch of idoits and stupid.. i am working at NASA and we study the earth and its rotation. You idoits have no idea of what is going on
13/02/2010 7:34 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
Well, astro, you finally barked up the wrong tree. I am your boss stupid, stop wasting tax payers money and get in my office right now! You are fired! I always hated you.
3/04/2010 3:59 PM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
From a scientific approach, this speeding up of the Earth's rotation is quite logical. As high school chemistry students would all know, an increase in temperature increases kinetic energy, thus causing particles to speed up. This global warming has undoubtedly caused not only everything within Earth's atmosphere to speed up, but also the planet's rotation.
No wonder kids are growing up too fast!
27/04/2010 10:27 AM
# re: The Earth is Spinning Faster
Thank you professor Schalkone! shal-cone-E