Whether it’s the world rotating around the Sun or shift workers switching between nights and days, our time is affected by a myriad of events. Some of them happen every day and some are more unpredictable and less predictable.
For instance, most people are aware that Earth revolves around the Sun throughout rotating events in our time the day. But what isn’t as well-known is that the speed at which the Earth revolves can be different making days appear longer or shorter than one would expect. This is the reason that Atomic clocks that provide standardized time have to be periodically adjusted by adding or subtracting seconds. This is referred to as leap seconds.
One of the most regular periodic events that rotate is precession, which is the cyclical wobble that occurs on the Earth’s axis which is similar to a, slightly off-center spinning toy top. This tilt in axial relation to fixed stars (inertial spaces) has the duration of 25,771.5. It is responsible for a myriad of weather patterns such as the alternating directions between cyclones in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Scientists have also noticed that the speed of Earth rotation slows over time, which causes solar days to become longer. On June 29, the world added a leap second to the atomic clocks in order to better align them with the axis of the Earth. Although the addition of a single second may seem minor but it can have significant implications for businesses that depend on rotating alter schedules. For example, for multinational companies that rely on a global workforce, fumbling through spreadsheets and static wiki pages to manage changing call schedules can be costly in terms of revenue and reputation. On-call rotation software is becoming more popular since it minimizes service interruptions and helps manage transfer coverage and gives employees a clearer picture of the situation.