Bay 12 Games Forum

Finally... => Life Advice => Topic started by: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:04:21 pm

Title: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:04:21 pm
So, there are 364 3/4 days in a year, right?  That's the actual length of the Earth's orbit, right?  It loses a quarter of a day each year so they add a day every leap year...

Does this mean that the Earth's Orbit is getting shorter?  They can't just arbitrarily add a day to the Earth's orbit.  Are we getting a quarter of a day closer to the sun each year?  I've wondered about this for years.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: umiman on March 23, 2009, 03:13:17 pm
I think it's a rounding correction issue. Basically, every year is supposed to be longer by 1/4 of a day. So to correct this, they add an extra day every 4 years.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Jude on March 23, 2009, 03:27:59 pm
Every year is 365 1/4 years. The orbit isn't getting longer (well, if it's changing, which it surely is, it's at a considerably slower rate) and they compensate with leap years.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 23, 2009, 03:29:30 pm
umiman's right. And it's 365 and 1/4th of a day per year, rather than 364 and 3/4.
To be even more precise, it's slightly less than 1/4th, so whenever the leap year is divisible by 100, you do not add the extra day in February.

ugh, bloody ninja ;)
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:41:02 pm
So it's not getting shorter?

Darnit, I was going to add up when the orbit would bring it too close to sustain life and stand outside shouting the day the world will end.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 23, 2009, 03:48:32 pm
Actually, the Earth's movement around the sun is being slowed down due to drag(against solar wind, mostly), which in turn brings our planet closer to the Sun. So, yeah, you can do your calculations, if you want to, but the effect is so minute, that the sun will go *bang* way before it'll become significant.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: umiman on March 23, 2009, 03:51:41 pm
I think they added two seconds last year...
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 23, 2009, 03:58:29 pm
Makes one wonder if the year was significantly longer/shorter millions of years ago when dinosaurs existed.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Vactor on March 23, 2009, 09:23:27 pm
the earth spins independently of its orbit, days are not a division of a year, a day is a revolution of the earth, a year is a circuit of its orbit, its like the tire on your car turning 34.238 times when you drive 500 feet, there is no reason for the numbers to match up as integers.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Jude on March 23, 2009, 09:52:16 pm
Quote from: chaoticjosh on March 23, 2009, 03:58:29 pm
Makes one wonder if the year was significantly longer/shorter millions of years ago when dinosaurs existed.

Nah. The changes are reallllllllllllly gradual.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Vactor on March 23, 2009, 09:56:19 pm
Quote from: Jude on March 23, 2009, 09:52:16 pm
Quote from: chaoticjosh on March 23, 2009, 03:58:29 pm
Makes one wonder if the year was significantly longer/shorter millions of years ago when dinosaurs existed.

Nah. The changes are reallllllllllllly gradual.

Something like slowing a Semi down by shouting at it
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Idiom on March 23, 2009, 11:52:20 pm
Quote from: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:04:21 pm
So, there are 364 3/4 days in a year, right?  That's the actual length of the Earth's orbit, right?  It loses a quarter of a day each year so they add a day every leap year...

Does this mean that the Earth's Orbit is getting shorter?  They can't just arbitrarily add a day to the Earth's orbit.  Are we getting a quarter of a day closer to the sun each year?  I've wondered about this for years.
Why be bothered about it if you'll never live long enough to be affected?
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Cheeetar on March 24, 2009, 12:00:10 am
Quote from: Idiom on March 23, 2009, 11:52:20 pm
Quote from: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:04:21 pm
So, there are 364 3/4 days in a year, right?  That's the actual length of the Earth's orbit, right?  It loses a quarter of a day each year so they add a day every leap year...

Does this mean that the Earth's Orbit is getting shorter?  They can't just arbitrarily add a day to the Earth's orbit.  Are we getting a quarter of a day closer to the sun each year?  I've wondered about this for years.
Why be bothered about it if you'll never live long enough to be affected?
Why bother about any long term effects if you're old? So someone along the line gets the benefit.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Idiom on March 24, 2009, 12:06:41 am
Quote from: Cheeetar on March 24, 2009, 12:00:10 am
Quote from: Idiom on March 23, 2009, 11:52:20 pm
Quote from: Cthulhu on March 23, 2009, 03:04:21 pm
So, there are 364 3/4 days in a year, right?  That's the actual length of the Earth's orbit, right?  It loses a quarter of a day each year so they add a day every leap year...

Does this mean that the Earth's Orbit is getting shorter?  They can't just arbitrarily add a day to the Earth's orbit.  Are we getting a quarter of a day closer to the sun each year?  I've wondered about this for years.
Why be bothered about it if you'll never live long enough to be affected?
Why bother about any long term effects if you're old? So someone along the line gets the benefit.
I wasn't aware that Cthulu knowing the exact rate at which the Earth loses speed in it's orbit would save his children, but I guess it would now that I think about it.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Yanlin on March 24, 2009, 01:31:41 am
Hey, at least we'll know when to abandon ship and go for Mars.

Here, you can have this magical terraforming machine.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: chaoticag on March 24, 2009, 07:38:41 am
Quote from: Jude on March 23, 2009, 03:27:59 pm
Every year is 365 1/4 years.
So how long is a year again? Is it that short and long at the same time? :P

And the whole system of adding a day every four years is imperfect, which is why 1700 1800 and 1900 where regular years, while 2000 was a leap year. The next problem that pops up will be us being a day off every 3000 years, but so long as it doesn't interfere with Easter and Christmas, we shouldn't have a problem (yes, Easter and Christmas was the entire reason we don't leap every century).
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Aldaris on March 24, 2009, 01:42:21 pm
So what a day every 3k years, that means 12 2/3rd days of innacuracy at most by the time the Necrons start shooting stuff again. I think we can correct tha manually later on. And calculating when the earth will fall into the sun by how much it;s slowing down doesn't work, the sun will, as mentioned before, go bang before that. Tha also means Mars doesn't work either. maybe some of the gas giant moons.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 24, 2009, 03:39:32 pm
If the sun went bang, and we we're still alive long enough to worry about that, wouldn't we have the tech to just colonize outside the solar system? And scan systems for life, and the progress of their stars, the precise type of star, and such? So far, the gradual development of humans has been slow and then faster as soon as humans discovered one or a few certain things that started to easily result in just that, more development. So, at the start of the Industrial Age, and easier to name, the 19th Century, its easy to say that the things Mankind has discovered has been at a much faster rate then say, 2000, or 3000 years ago. Predictions state that either:

Man will soon, through the process of this development being ongoing, we learn the complexities of the universe within the next several thousand years, if that is the go through in Intelligent life. Or at least as much as we can unless something indirectly would need to happen for us to learn some hidden part of information. The secret of the universe perhaps.

This meaning, we would have either developed a Utopia-like galactic community where distance isn't mere time, but want. Should I pay tribute to Mother Earth on a little trip on my way to the edge of the galaxy? Sure! Why not! It'll only take a few minutes!

Or, should the former not be the case, and the prediction turns out to be true, mankind is a candle, steadily burning its fuse, and once reaching toward the end of its stick, burning faster and faster until finally...burning itself out.



Or we could be hit by a Gamma Ray or giant meteor. Or be attacked by a vastly powerful alien empire and get our planet blown up without even knowing we we're being targeted.

You decide.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Gorjo MacGrymm on March 25, 2009, 09:28:22 pm
On a side note to the whole decaying orbit of the erath thingy, the moon is actually getting further and further away from earth every "year" (i use quotations now with this word after reading this thread :P  ).  The earth will most likely lose its ability to sustain life from the loss of the moon well before the sun does anything funny.

or so that discovery/nova show said anyway..........  :)
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: umiman on March 25, 2009, 09:38:13 pm
Our great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchildren would have died before that happens I think. Still, it's important to plan ahead so stock up on those space suits and G.E.C.K.s now.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Gorjo MacGrymm on March 25, 2009, 09:51:35 pm
Quote from: umiman on March 25, 2009, 09:38:13 pm
Our great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchildren would have died before that happens I think. Still, it's important to plan ahead so stock up on those space suits and G.E.C.K.s now.

screw the g.e.c.k.  im gonna get in one of those iso-virtual pods and live at the Playboy mansion till its over.....maybe run, "Chinese Invasion" every now and then to keep things intersting.  Or maybe get people to kill each other in the pods.  Nah, NM, thats allready been done.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 26, 2009, 10:33:51 am
Quote from: Gorjo MacGrymm on March 25, 2009, 09:51:35 pm
screw the g.e.c.k.  im gonna get in one of those iso-virtual pods and live at the Playboy mansion till its over.....maybe run, "Chinese Invasion" every now and then to keep things intersting.  Or maybe get people to kill each other in the pods.  Nah, NM, thats allready been done.

Nah, the Playboy mansion would be condemned at that point. The Playboy corporation would have gone bankrupt when they finally invented "Brain-chip megaporn" which is porn that you only need to think about and the images pop in your head, and it's way better than normal porn.
Title: Re: Something has bugged me for a long time, enlighten me.
Post by: Gorjo MacGrymm on March 26, 2009, 09:10:44 pm
yeah, my point was that I would live in a virtual playboy mansion like in.......nevermind