THE LEAPSECOND
(SFX: conspiracy music)
YOU MAY NOT KNOW IT, BUT AN ORGANIZATION IN PARIS IS CONTROLLING TIME. THE
INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION SERVICE HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE TIME ALL
OVER THE WORLD. IT EVEN ADDED AN EXTRA SECOND TO 1995 - WHICH YOU PROBABLY
DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. WHY THE NEED FOR THIS LEAPSECOND? BECAUSE TIMEKEEPING
AND THE SECOND AREN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE. CHIEF OF THE TIME AND
FREQUENCY DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY,
DONALD SULLIVAN, EXPLAINS THAT OUR MONTHS, DAYS, MINUTES AND THE SECOND,
WERE ONCE BASED ON THE EARTH'S ROTATION. BUT NOW THAT'S ALL CHANGED:

SULLIVAN: "we recognized that the rotation of the earth,...was somewhat irregular, and at the same time
we were starting to need a better timekeeping system...we found that the atomic clock was a much more
stable timekeeper." 

AN ATOMIC CLOCK IS MADE UP OF A BEAM OF ATOMS MOVING THROUGH A VACUUM. IT
CAN KEEP A CONSTANT PACE FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS WITHOUT LOSING ITS BEAT. BUT
THE EARTH ISN'T NEARLY THAT PRECISE, AND OVER TIME, THEY GET OUT OF SYNCH.

SULLIVAN: "all of a sudden we had a problem in that the earth in its rotation wasn't paying attention to
the atoms. If we let that continue, we would find that  we would gradually get some slippage, of when
sunrise and sunset would occur..." 

ENTER THE LEAPSECOND. 20 LEAPSECONDS HAVE BEEN ADDED SINCE 1972 TO KEEP
OUR ATOMIC CLOCKS FROM RACING AHEAD OF THE EARTH'S NATURAL TIME. WITHOUT
THEM YOU'D BE 20 SECONDS EARLY ALL THIS YEAR--IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE MUCH, BUT
IF WE DIDN'T ADD LEAPSECONDS OVER, SAY THE NEXT MILLENNIA, EVENTUALLY
YOU'D BE HAVING BREAKFAST AT SUNDOWN.  SO THANK THE LEAPSECOND FOR
SAVING THE DAY.