--- title: You'll Get an Extra Second in 2016 description: 2016 will have an extra second so the clock can keep up with variations in Earth's rotation. authors: - name: Kerry Close url: https://money.com/author/kerry-close/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 182 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/kerryclose former_staff: true published: '2016-07-07T15:47:03.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T02:39:27.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - clock - leap second - Leap Year - pubdesk - TIME word_count: 278 canonical: https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![This year will have an extra "leap second."](https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-550777001.jpg) *This year will have an extra "leap second."* Your New Year's celebrations this year will last a second longer. An extra second will be added to the clock on December 31st of this year, the [timekeepers](https://datacenter.iers.org/web/guest/eop/-/somos/5Rgv/latest/16) at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service announced Wednesday. Around midnight, clocks will read 11:59:60 rather than 11:59:59. The decision was made because every once in a while, one second is added onto years to ensure that the Coordinated Universal Time, or the worldwide time metric, is adjusted to keep up the variations in Earth's rotation. Earth's spin isn't constant because the Moon's gravitational pull and environmental events like strong earthquakes can change how long the planet takes to rotate on its axis. Leap seconds make sure that atomic clocks match the slowing rotation of the planet. ***Read More*: [Tons of Travel Deals Are Being Offered on Leap Year](https://money.com/travel-deals-leap-day-leap-year/?iid=sr-link1)** There's an anti-leap second movement (because why wouldn't there be?). Opponents of the time metric argue that leap seconds should be done away with because they can create problems with computer systems that weren't designed to take them into account. Still, their hopes aren't likely to be realized any time soon; in November, representatives at the World Radiocommunications Conference decided to postpone a final decision on leap seconds until 2023. Officials, however, try to minimize the annoyance of leap seconds by announcing them six months in advance. Since 1972, the IERS has added 26 leap seconds, the most recent one on June 30th, 2015. ***Read More: Stop Procrastinating! 10 Inspiring Quotes to Motivate You*** Regardless of your opinion on the temporal construct, at least you'll get to enjoy an extra second of festivities before the ball drops this year. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Travel", "item": "https://money.com/travel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You'll Get an Extra Second in 2016" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/", "name": "You'll Get an Extra Second in 2016", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-07-07T15:47:03.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:39:27.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "You'll Get an Extra Second in 2016", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-550777001.jpg", "width": 3138, "height": 2448, "caption": "Leap-year-second" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kerry Close", "url": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/kerryclose" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-07-07T15:47:03.000Z", "description": "2016 will have an extra second so the clock can keep up with variations in Earth's rotation.", "abstract": "2016 will have an extra second so the clock can keep up with variations in Earth's rotation.", "@id": "https://money.com/leap-second-leap-year-2016/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:39:27.000Z", "wordCount": 278, "keywords": [ "clock", "leap second", "Leap Year", "pubdesk", "TIME" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Travel", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel" ] } ] } ] } ```