Rotating Events in Our Time

If it’s the Earth rotating around the Sun or shift workers shifting between nights and days the way we live our lives is shaped by many spinning events. Some of these happen every day but others are more irregular and unpredictable.

Most people are aware of the fact that the Earth revolves around 24 hours around the Sun. It is less well-known that the speed at which Earth rotates can fluctuate and make the day appear shorter or longer than it really is. This is the reason that atomic clocks that maintain standardized time must be regularly adjusted by adding or subtracting seconds. This is referred to as leap seconds.

One of the most regular rotational events is precession which is the cyclical wobble that occurs on the Earth’s axis which is similar to a slightly off-center spinning top. This axial shift relative to fixed stars (inertial space) is a time period of 25,771.5 years, and is action participants by board room responsible for various weather patterns, such as the changing direction of cyclones in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Scientists have also noticed that the speed of Earth rotation slows down over time, leading solar day to get longer. On June 29th the world added a leap second to the atomic clocks to better align them with the rotation of the Earth. Although the addition of a single second may seem like a minor thing, it has important implications for businesses that depend on the changing of schedules. For example, for multinational companies that rely on an international workforce, fumbling through spreadsheets and static wiki pages to manage shifting call schedules can be costly in terms of revenue and reputation. On-call rotation software is becoming more well-known as it helps reduce interruptions in service and also manages the transfer coverage and gives employees a clearer picture of the situation.