Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
International Atomic Time (abbreviated TAI, from its French name temps atomique international[1]) is a high-precision atomic coordinate time standard based on the notional passage of proper time on Earth's geoid. [2] TAI is a weighted average of the time kept by over 450 atomic clocks in over 80 national laboratories worldwide. [3]
Time standards. [edit] An atomic clock is based on a system of atoms which may be in one of two possible energy states. A group of atoms in one state is prepared, then subjected to microwave radiation. If the radiation is of the correct frequency, a number of atoms will transition to the other energy state.
NIST-F1. NIST-F1 is a cesium fountain clock, a type of atomic clock, in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, and serves as the United States' primary time and frequency standard. The clock took less than four years to test and build, and was developed by Steve Jefferts and Dawn Meekhof of the Time and ...
Time after time. In atomic clocks, an atom’s electrons are pinged with electromagnetic radiation at specific frequencies. Bursts of energy excite the electrons, pushing them into a higher orbit ...
Department of Defense master clock. United States Naval Observatory. Washington, D.C. United States. 18 cesium atomic clocks and 4 hydrogen maser clocks. Cs, H. National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. Koganei, Japan [ 13 ] Optical lattice clock.
Radio clock. A modern LF radio-controlled clock. A radio clock or radio-controlled clock (RCC), and often colloquially (and incorrectly [1]) referred to as an "atomic clock", is a type of quartz clock or watch that is automatically synchronized to a time code transmitted by a radio transmitter connected to a time standard such as an atomic clock.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communication, navigation, scientific research, and commerce. UTC has been widely embraced by most countries and ...
The smallest time step considered theoretically observable is called the Planck time, which is approximately 5.391×10 −44 seconds – many orders of magnitude below the resolution of current time standards. The caesium atomic clock became practical after 1950, when advances in electronics enabled reliable measurement of the microwave ...