How an extra second could provoke electronic chaos
When you wake up on the morning of Wednesday, July 1, if you discover some electronic device or another is not working, here is a possible explanation. Tuesday, June 30 is going to be a longer day than the days before … by exactly one second. Time kept by atomic clocks is constant, but the rotation of the earth is slowing down by about two milliseconds per day, so 25 times since 1972 there has been an extra second added to the length of the year in order to compensate. This happens every year or two and every time this happens it seems to cause more chaos in cyberspace than it did the last time.