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Nist: New Optical Clock More Accurate Than Cesium

Posted by chrisd on from the lonely-exhibitionsist-ion dept.

LordPhatal writes "NIST researchers have demonstrated a new kind of atomic clock that has the potential to be up to 1,000 times more accurate than today's best clock. The new clock is based on an energy transition in a single trapped mercury ion.

3 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. Re:um by akiaki007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We know how long a second is. Time as we measure it is based on Earth's rotation and revolution.

    What this measument is, is that it will not deteriorate over time as most methods of time measurement do currently. That is why it is so accurate. What that really means it that over time it will prove to be more accurate than anything else that we have created. A second will still be a second, and it's lenght will not change now.

    --
    "Time is long and life is short, so begin to live while you still can." -EV
  2. Re:um by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "We know how long a second is. Time as we measure it is based on Earth's rotation and revolution. What this measument is, is that it will not deteriorate over time as most methods of time measurement do currently."

    Ya, it's completly accurate unless a butterfly flaps its wings in China and flys to another part China, thus changing the Earth's weight distribution and screwing up the Earth's rotational period. Even such a small change matters.

    Can you imagine the effect people,oceans, lithospheric plate movement, etc. have on the frequency of the events you say are stable and always predictable?

  3. Re:relativity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "time is relative". Isn't building a "perfect clock" impossible to do on Earth?
    Yes, time is relative. What a clock does is measure the flow of time where the clock is. And it is accurate in doing it. If you need to measure a time interval for an experiment you're doing in your basement, the best thing is to have an atomic clock in your basement too.

    In order for it to be accurate, wouldn't you have to create it somewhere in deep-space
    Then you'll be measuring the flow of time in deep-space, which would be more accurate for a deep-space experiment, but less accurate for your basement experiment here on Earth.

    So the best thing is to have clocks where you need them, and maybe monitor the differences between them for fun. For example, because Boulder is about 1 mile above the sea level, the atomic clock there goes slightly faster than the Washington clock.

    Your suggestion of a clock in space would be a good way to define a universal time, but not a good way to gain accuracy.