It was longer than the average year by a whole two seconds.
The two extra seconds were leap seconds added on June 30 and again on December 31 the same year.
Photo:Pertusinas | Dreamstime.com
What are leap seconds?
The Earths rotation is slowing down, which throws the clocks on Earth out of sync.
On average, an Earth day is about 0.002 seconds longer than 24 hours.
These differences, however small, add up and grows to one second in about 1.5 years.
Every year, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service decides whether to add them.
1972, the year this system was introduced, was the only year when two leap seconds were added.
Why is the Earth slowing down?
One group of researchers estimates that 1.4 billion years ago a day was just 18.7 hours.
At that time, the moon was also some 27,000 miles closer to Earth than it is now.
By 3.5 billion years ago, the day had lengthened to about 21 hours.
A simulated history of Earth’s day length.
Graph byBencbartlett/Wikimedia Commons
Tidal acceleration alone lengthens the day by 2.3 milliseconds per century.
Certain manmade structures can also influence the earths rotation.
Many computer systems fail because software are unable to handle the extra second.
