leap seconds?

You've heard of leap years but do you know that there are 'leap seconds'? Time keeping became incredibly accurate with the invention of the first reliable atomic clock in 1955. This proved to be a problem because the Earth's rotation varies and is slowing down due to tidal changes, earthquakes, and friction from galactic dust. On average, the rotation of the Earth slows 1.5 seconds every 100 years but the rate of the atomic clock never varies. To make up for this, scientists began adding 'leap seconds' to the atomic clock in 1972. There is a showdown between scientists in Geneva at the UN over whether or not to abolish leap seconds. Some say that leap seconds don't matter. Others argue that if we abolish the leap second, the world's clocks will be off by one whole hour... in 550 years.