Whether it’s the world rotating around the Sun or shift workers who switch between night and day the way we live our lives is determined by a variety of spinning events. Some of these occur every day but others are more irregular and less predictable.
Most people are aware of the fact that the Earth revolves every 24 hours around the Sun. But what isn’t as well-known is the speed at which the Earth revolves can be different which can make days appear shorter or longer than what is expected. The atomic clocks, which maintain an established time, have to be adjusted on a regular basis by adding or subtracting seconds. This is referred to as a leap second.
Precession is a regular rotational event. It is the oscillation of the Earth’s axis, which is similar to the spinning top of a toy that is slightly off-center. This axial shift in relation to fixed stars (inertial space) has a duration of 25,771.5 years, and is the cause of various weather patterns, such as the alternating direction of cyclones in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
Scientists have also noticed that the speed at which the Earth rotates slows down over long periods of time, which causes solar days to become gradually longer. On June 29th, the world added a leap second to the atomic clocks to better align them with the rotation of the Earth. While the addition of one second might seem like a small amount but it can have significant implications for businesses that depend on rotating alter schedules. For example, for multinational companies that rely on an international workforce, fumbling through static spreadsheets and wiki pages to keep track of changing call schedules can quickly become costly in terms of revenue and company reputation. This is the reason why more companies are turning to on-call rotation software to cut down on service interruptions and to manage the transfer coverage and give employees a better understanding of the process.
