New Atomic Clock 1000 Times More Accurate

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New Atomic Clock 1000 Times More Accurate

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday November 20, 2004 @05:32AM from the chronographs-and-tickers dept.

stevelinton writes "The UK National Physical Laboratory has a new atomic clock potentially 1000 times more accurate than current cesium clocks: to within 1 second in about 30 billion years! This could lead quite soon to a new definition of the second, and in a while to improved resolution in GPS successor systems. More interestingly, there are theories that some of the universe's fundamental dimensionless constants may have changed by a parts in a million over the last 10 billion years or so. These clocks are so accurate that they should be able to detect these changes over a year or two."

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I'll alert Britannica... by grub · 2004-11-20 05:34 · Score: 5, Funny

This could lead quite soon to a new definition of the second

Now all we need is a13 year old to update the wikipedia entry.

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Trolling is a art,
Great! by nixdorf_ · 2004-11-20 05:35 · Score: 5, Funny

My boss will now know with 1000x the accuracy exactly how late I am. Wonderful!
Atomic wristwatch? by cortana · 2004-11-20 05:48 · Score: 4, Funny

Call me back when there's a portable version available.
Like Henry Ford said when visiting a museum by melted · 2004-11-20 05:51 · Score: 4, Funny

of clocks: "I see no progress in this industry. These clocks are no faster than the ones they made a hundred years ago."
That's nice but... by ZoneGray · 2004-11-20 05:57 · Score: 4, Funny

That's all well and good, but I'll bet it still flashes "12:00-12:00-12:00" after the power goes off.
Re:Accurate distance too? by bobdotorg · 2004-11-20 05:57 · Score: 4, Funny

it should be possible to measure a metre very exactly.

Ah - but I suspect that measurement of what comprises six inches will be as imprecise and inaccurate as it's always been.

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Re:Second Minute by kingkade · 2004-11-20 06:25 · Score: 4, Funny

Thank you for the answer to a question no one asked.

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why run from Vincenzo?
Awesome by roman_mir · 2004-11-20 06:30 · Score: 5, Funny

But the real question is can MS make a download status bar that is 1000 times more precise and does not go from 2 minutes to 20, then to 4 minutes, then to 5 minutes etc. Or this invention does not affect a standard Microsoft Millisecond (which I believe is a random function?)

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You can't handle the truth.
WTF? by commodoresloat · 2004-11-20 07:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Man that shit is complicated. No wonder we Americans never adopted the metric system. If I want to measure a yard, I don't need no fancy lasers. Just a yardstick!!