Did yesterday drag on a little long for you or did you get a (very) little more than you expected in the day? If so, it is entirely coincidental that yesterday was a full second longer than usual.
Time magazine explains that by convention, a “leap second” is added to the length of the day to compensate for the very gradual slowing of the Earth’s rotation over time as a result of seismic events to ensure that we do not find the patterns of day and night shifting from their accustomed times of day. 25 leap seconds have been added so far, after they were introduced in 1972.
Photo by KimCarpenter NJ