Rotating Events in Our Time
It doesn’t matter if it’s the planets spinning around the sun, or shift workers who switch between night and day shifts the way we live our lives is shaped by a variety of spinning events. Some occur every day and some are unpredictable and irregular.
Precession is one of these rotating events that occur more regularly. It is the Earth’s gradual wobble along its axis of rotation. The wobble is similar to an off-center rotating toy top. This variation toward the axis in relation to fixed stars (inertial space) is a period of 25,771.5 years. This is why Ferris wheel or carousels along with other enjoyable rides have to have a slender bar running from side to side. Another typical event that rotates is the Coriolis effect, a mysterious push over a freely moving body system that alters its revolving movement on an atmospheric scale. This is responsible for many weather patterns, including the alternating direction of cyclones on the southern and upper hemispheres.
While most people know that our planet rotates on its axis 24 hours a day but many are unaware that the speed of this rotation can vary. Sometimes, days appear longer or shorter than they actually be. This is why the atomic clocks which maintain standardized time have to be tuned periodically. This kind of change is called a leap second. This article will discuss the meaning behind it and why it’s crucial to our daily lives.