Download or read book Splitting The Second written by A Jones and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until the 1950s timekeeping was based on the apparent motion of the Sun that in turn reflected the rotation of the Earth on its axis. But the Earth does not turn smoothly. By the 1940s it was clear that the length of the day fluctuated unpredictably and with it the length of the second. Astronomers wanted to redefine the second in terms of the moti