It’s February 29th, a day that is only seen every 4 years! It’s Leap Day!!
So what is Leap Day? Why does it happen? What can you do with those extra 24 hours? Allow me to explain and recommend!
Scientifically speaking, a Leap Year happens approximately every 4 years because “It takes the Earth approximately 365.242189 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds – to circle once around the Sun,” according to www.timeanddate.com “ Because we use the Gregorian Calendar (You remember the Gregorian vs Julian Calendar thing from George Washington’s birthday, right?) which only accounts for 365 days, “…if we didn’t add a leap day on February 29 nearly every four years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by around 24 days!” An extra day is added to the end of February (today!) to account for that shortage of time.
So why almost every 4 years? Well, if you noticed, It takes the Earth approximately 364.24 days to circle the sun, not 365.25 days, and those extra minutes add up! There 3 major rules for how to determine which years are leap years so the calendar stays pretty accurate.
“In the Gregorian calendar three criteria must be taken into account to identify leap years:
- The year can be evenly divided by 4;
- If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
- The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.
This means that in the Gregorian calendar, the years 2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1800,1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years.”
So that’s the what and when, but what to do with that extra 24 hours?! Well, if you are crafty minded like us, you might be inclined to use that extra time towards your crafting. Check out our Pinterest Board for some super quick projects you can finish in one day!