Rotating Events in Our Time

Whether it’s the world rotating around the Sun or shift workers who switch between nights and days our lives are determined by a variety of spinning events. Some of these occur every https://northcentralrotary.org/2020/02/12/modern-quest-types-features-preparation-for-games/ day but others are more irregular and unpredictable.

For instance, the majority of people are aware that the Earth revolves around the Sun throughout the day. But what isn’t as well-known is that the speed at which the Earth rotates may vary making a day appear longer or shorter than expected. This is why nuclear clocks which maintain a standard time must be periodically adjusted by adding or subtracting seconds. This is referred to as a leap second.

One of the most regular periodic events that rotate is precession, which is the cyclical movement of the Earth’s axis similar to a slightly off-center spinny toy top. This tilt in axial relation to fixed stars (inertial spaces) has a duration of 25,771.5. It is the cause for a myriad of weather patterns for example, the alternating direction between cyclones on the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Scientists have also noticed that the speed of Earth rotation slows down over time, causing the solar day to get longer. This is the reason why, on June 29, the world added an extra second to atomic clocks, so that they would be more in sync with the real-world Earth’s rotation. Although the addition of one second may seem minor but it can have significant implications for businesses that rely on changing schedules that rotate. For instance, for multinational companies that depend on an international workforce, fumbling through spreadsheets and static wiki pages to manage shifting call schedules could be costly in terms of revenue and reputation. On-call rotation software is becoming more popular because it cuts down on service interruptions and helps manage transfer coverage and provides transparency for employees.