Mama Diaries

Monday, November 23, 2015

How Long is a Day?


"Mama," my eleven-year-old son asked. "How long is a day?"

"Twenty four hours," I said, without thinking twice.

"No, it's not," my son said.

"What do you mean?"

Bubba explained. "Scientists discovered that a huge earthquake caused the earth to alter its rotation. There is one less millisecond per day, than there used to be."

"That's nice," I said. "So, how long is it going to take to notice the difference?"

Bubba shrugged. "I don't know."

That wasn't a good enough answer. Since I was curious about the situation, I did a little math. One day equals 86,400,000 milliseconds. It will take 2, 367,123.29 years for all those little milliseconds to equal a full day. Guess I'm not going to worry about it too much, and neither should you.



Today I'm a guest over at Indie Authors. If you'd like to read the story behind my latest book, Ten Zany Birds, please stop by!

31 comments:

  1. Hi, dear Sherry! How true, how true, how true. Sometimes it seems there aren't enough milliseconds in a day. :)

    I am chief of the Truth in Blogging police and I intend to check back here 2, 367,123.29 years from now to make sure your data is accurate. :)

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    1. Haha! I don't know if I'll be here, but you are certainly welcome to check back and post the results! ;-)

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  2. That's a long time. Don't think I'm going to worry about it.

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  3. you lost me with the numbers :)

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  4. Isn't that what leap seconds are for? They reset every so often so as to keep the clocks and calendars accurate.

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    1. Leap seconds. I don't think I got the memo on that, but it makes sense.

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  5. I swear Bubba comes up with the most interesting facts... I don't think I could have kept up the numbers though xox

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    1. He has a very scientific mind - just like me. ;-)

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  6. Your son asked you what I would have thought an impossible question, you had the brains to work it out. Good for you Sherry.
    Yvonne.

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  7. Ah, what a difference a millisecond makes...

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    1. I wish the earthquake had added a few more milliseconds. I sure could use them!

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  8. Well unless the fountain of youth shows itself, no one today should care

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    1. I wonder if someone will stumble across this blog 2,367,123.29 years from now and verify this. ;-)

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  9. I wonder if it was caused by the earthquake we had here a few weeks ago. The one that knocked down absolutely nothing that I am aware of.

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  10. Oh wow ! That book looks very interesting. Congrats !

    I guess, kids like to be precise, so a day is a wee bit smaller than twenty four hours.

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    1. Bubba wanted to make sure I got my facts straight.

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  11. I knew days were getting shorter

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  12. I love children who are curious and ask interesting questions. Bubba always learns something new.

    Love,
    Janie

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  13. So we'll have an extra leap year millions of years into the future? :)

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  14. Don't you just love some of the questions they come out with? Talk about keeping us on our toes.

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  15. Isn't it nice to find something we really don't need to worry about?

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  16. You really can google anything these days! That is so cool! :)

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