However, in the course of 2021, atomic clocks are expected to accumulate a lag of about 19 milliseconds. On Sunday, the solar day lasted just 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59.9998927 seconds, then slowed down on Monday to a little more than 24 hours. “There are also international discussions taking place about the future of leap seconds, and it’s also possible that the need for a negative leap second might push the decision towards ending leap seconds for good.” “It’s quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed if the Earth’s rotation rate increases further, but it’s too early to say if this is likely to happen. Peter Whibberley, senior research scientist with National Physical Laboratory’s time and frequency group, said: “It is certainly correct that the Earth is spinning faster now than at any time in the last 50 years. Then, BT's speaking clock added a second's pause before its third pip while Radio 4 inserted an extra pip to its 1am bulletin.

The last one was added on New Year’s Eve 2016, when clocks around the world paused for a second to allow the Earth’s rotation to catch up. In recent decades, Earth's average rotational speed has consistently decreased and timekeepers have been forced to add 27 leap seconds to atomic time since the 1970s to keep clocks in sync with the slowing planet. The changes to the length of a standard day were only discovered after highly accurate atomic clocks were developed in the 1960s and compared to fixed stars in the sky. The previous shortest day in 2005 was beaten 28 times last year, and 2021 is on track to be the most nippy year ever, with the average day passing 0.5 milliseconds faster than usual.

The Earth has been spinning unusually quickly lately, and July 19 saw the shortest day since records began, with the planet completing its rotation in 1.4602 milliseconds less than the usual 86,400 seconds. and this year is set to be even speedier. If 2020 felt like a drag, you may be surprised to discover it actually went faster than you thought.

Can we feel the earth spinning