Wait a Second for ’96
<i> Associated Press</i>
WASHINGTON —
1996 will be delayed briefly.
The nation’s official clocks will add a “leap second” at the end of the year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said.
Leap seconds are added periodically to keep the highly accurate atomic clocks in tune with Earth.
The planet can speed up or slow down, the result of friction from the oceans sloshing around, perhaps from the atmosphere and maybe other factors that scientists don’t fully understand.
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