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jeffw@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 10 months ago

Most Precise Atomic Clock Ever Built Will Only Lose a Second Every 30 Billion Years

gizmodo.com

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Most Precise Atomic Clock Ever Built Will Only Lose a Second Every 30 Billion Years

gizmodo.com

jeffw@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 10 months ago
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The device, which traps thousands of atoms to keep time, is "pushing the boundaries of what's possible with timekeeping." The device traps thousands of atoms to keep time, and is "pushing the boundaries of what's possible with timekeeping."
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  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Yeah, but in 1.8 trillion years, you’re going to be a minute late for everything.

    • aname@lemmy.one
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      10 months ago

      Imagine being 15 minutes late to the heat death of the universe. Unacceptable.

      • Vigge93@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Damn right, you’d miss the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster drink before the dinner. Not ok.

    • Cosmo@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I mean but this should save me some hassle from my current clock that I need to adjust every 10 billion years.

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      The Germans will be furious

      • kambusha@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        *the Swiss

    • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Oh shit I missed the sun explosion!

  • Damage@feddit.it
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    10 months ago

    Just stick a post-it with: “TODO 01/01/30000002024: set one second forward”

    • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 months ago

      … or one second back, that’s the problem.

  • pelletbucket@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    prove it

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      Remindme! 30 billion years

      Just give me a little bit of time, I got this. You’re gonna see!

  • scutiger@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Surely in 30 billion years nothing could possibly happen to the supercooled strontium to throw that off, right?

  • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
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    10 months ago

    Does it still need a groundhog to tell it when spring is?

    • Fredrik@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Yes, of course.

      • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        But the groundhog will be made out of gallium arsenide.

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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    10 months ago

    Hopefully they will improve with the next model.

  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Just checking… Was anyone on the team named Igor?

  • solrize@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    What do you set it to?

    • corroded@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      In clocks like this, the “set time” is often irrelevant. It’s more important to know exactly how much time has passed since the last time the clock was “checked.” If you’re running a radio transmitter at 6ghz, that’s 6 billion cycles per second. If you synch your transmitter to your clock once per second, it had better be accurate to the billionth of a second.

      • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        This. Clocks like this are for measuring duration in a scientific context.

        • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          Or tech, like GPS.

          • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Oh duh, yeah. The most obvious example.

    • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 months ago

      The other atomic clocks that are averaged to give us our ground truth for time.

  • Sparkega@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    But does this account for our days getting longer?

    Edit: /s

    • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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      10 months ago

      Standard seconds are defined based on measurable properties of a cesium atom. The historical definition of 1/86400th of a day doesn’t work for science if the duration is inconsistent.

      For example the statement:

      Earth’s Days Are Getting 2 seconds Longer Every 100,000 Years

      becomes self-referencing and loses all meaning without some other reference point.

      • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        “I suppose”.

        Boom, now it’s a scientific unit.

    • todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      deleted by creator

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