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NIST's New Atomic Clock Is So Precise Our Ability To Measure Gravity Constrains Its Accuracy (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the marching-forward dept.

dmoberhaus writes: Researchers at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed an atomic clock that is so precise that our models of Earth's gravity aren't accurate enough to keep up with it. As detailed in a paper published this week in Nature, the atomic clock could pave the way for creating an unprecedented map of the way the Earth's gravity distorts spacetime and even shed light on the development of the early universe. "The level of clock performance being reported is such that we don't actually know how to account for it well enough to support the level of performance the clock achieves," Andrew Ludlow, a physicist at NIST and the project lead on the organization's new atomic clock, told me on the phone. "Right now the state of the art techniques aren't quite good enough so we're limited by how well we understand gravity on different parts of the Earth."

7 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. So is it hooked up so we can sync our PC clocks? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Sure internet lag, and performance of our PC especially in terms of the time clock wouldn't matter... But darn it, I want my PC to have accurate time.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Re:So is it hooked up so we can sync our PC clocks by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Because I want my clock to be accurate.
    It is like having speakers that go to 11

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  3. New, extremely accurate altimeter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since you can measure gravity extremely accurately, and gravity varies with height, does that mean they've just invented an extremely accurate altimeter?

    1. Re:New, extremely accurate altimeter? by charliemerritt03 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, but it must be locally calibrated. I was talking to a guy that used to work at WWV, he said that moving an older clock up one story would make a very noticeable change in it's tick time - this one might be sensitive to inches.

    2. Re:New, extremely accurate altimeter? by mlyle · · Score: 2

      Sensitive to about a centimeter actually, with a sustained observation.

  4. And behind Door #2 time is running out for by niftymitch · · Score: 4, Informative

    And behind Door #2 time is running out for WWVB.
    The low frequency WWVB standard and short wave clock time standards seem have time running
    out for them.
    https://www.voanews.com/a/time...

    It may simply be that we will know with more precision when infrastructure has its plug pulled.

    GPS time is likely better than NTP time for computers.
    Clocks like this may allow for the elimination of almost all Olympic timing errors and ties.
    I can see headlines... runners fail to best Usain Bolt's best time by one Picosecond +/- 2.7 Femtoseconds.

    --
    Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
    1. Re:And behind Door #2 time is running out for by Scutter · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can see headlines... runners fail to best Usain Bolt's best time by one Picosecond +/- 2.7 Femtoseconds.

      No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!

      --

      "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"