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On 2002-03-22 07:52, Gary Redmond wrote:
4) The leap second. Even before the atomic clock the Earth's *appearent* slowing was detectable. Since the atomic clock (1956 ish) the amount has been fixed at around 0.68 second per year.
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You're confusing "slowing" with "slower"
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I believe that most all the astronomy texts say or infer that the Earth is *slowing* down, or as just stated "the length of the day is increasing." I don't believe that I can misunderstand that unless the word slowing has some new definition. I don't believe there is evidence that the Earth, Moon, or the Earth-Moon system are slowing.
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The evidence has been reference above, in this thread. Believe it or not.
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The Leap Second has been about 0.68 seconds every year for some 40+ years, which says to me it is not an acceleration only a difference in speed. I could be wrong there could be an acceleration, but the amount is far to small to measure.
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You are right that the leap seconds are a result of a difference in speed, between our current rate and the standard rate which was referenced to Earth rotation speed of the year 1900. But the evidence shows that the earth slows only about 2 milliseconds a day per century. That is much, much smaller, but it is still large enough to measure.
That means that the earth is taking 2 milliseconds longer to rotate than it did in 1900. So, every 500 days or so (it is not a steady rotation, mostly because of redistribution of the mass of the atmosphere and in the Earth's interior), we need a leap second. That is close to your .68 second per year.
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I say that the leap second data, recession of nodes data, and the laws of physics prove that the Earth and Moon are not "slowing".
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They don't.
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All the laws stated in physics textbooks seem to show that no slowing of the Moon or Earth can be possible.
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That is only your interpretation.