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| New Year's Day will be delayed by one second this year. (Photo source: yahoo) | BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- New Year's Day will be delayed by one second this year.
Scientists will insert a "leap second" onto the end of December 31, by tweaking their atomic clocks, the world's most precise timekeepers, so as to be consistent with the Earth's rotation.
Leap seconds are inserted because atomic clocks tend to go slightly ahead of the Earth's rotation, largely because the rotation of the Earth has been slowing down.
It will be the first extra second in seven years. The
first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, according to NIST, an arm of the
U.S. Commerce Department.
(Agencies) | 
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