The current time standard for the United States is a cesium atomic frequency standard at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. Atomic clocks are integral parts of the Global Positioning System since extreme accuracy in timing is necessary for the triangulation involved. Such clocks have provided the accuracy necessary to test general relativity and to track variations in the frequencies of pulsars. The two most widely used atomic clocks in recent years have been the cesium beam atomic clock and the rubidium clock. The frequencies associated with such transitions are so reproducible that the definition of the second is now tied to the frequency associated with a transition in cesium-133: 1 second = 9,192, 631,770 cycles of the standard Cs-133 transition There were originally only going to be six, but they sold out almost immediately and only one of ten is left at the time of publishing.Very accurate clocks can be constructed by locking an electronic oscillator to the frequency of an atomic transition. You can see the Bathys Cesium 133 Kickstarter here and even purchase one of the watches for $6,000. These first ten atomic watches could be the beginning of something big. He also expresses optimism that this technology could become commonplace in the relatively near future and we'll be curious to see where things go from here. John Patterson, expresses his surprise that his team was able to develop this ahead of Swiss competitors. In the video on the Kickstarter page, creator Dr. This is a new frontier in personal timekeeping and the futuristic vibe is certainly appropriate.īathys isn't new to the watch game (you can see its other creations here), but this type of wrist-worn timekeeper is a world first. There's no getting around the fact that the Bathys Cesium 133 is massive – it's closer to a VHS tape than a standard watch – but if you're buying one it's not exactly for its wearability. The rendering up top is what the production pieces purchased through the Kickstarter will look like, while here we have the most current prototype. It runs for up to 36 hours on a rechargeable battery, depending on the operating mode, and once set it will theoretically remain accurate to one second in every 1,000 years (it's not exactly possible to test this in the field). Inside the Bathys Cesium 133 is a Ronda 509 quartz movement that has been fitted with a CSAC (Chip Sized Atomic Clock) chip to act as the regulator. We might think of a second as a particular number of beats of a balance wheel or vibrations of a quartz crystal, but the true scientific definition of a second is 9,192,631,770 vibrations of a cesium 133 atom. It pushes accuracy to a whole new level, keeping time to one second in 1,000 years. This is a world first, and while the Cesium 133 is still in prototype stages, the makers are selling the first 10 pieces via Kickstarter as a way to get the watch into production. Here we have something else entirely, the Bathys Cesium 133, which actually contains a microchip housing a tiny atomic clock in the watch itself.
You've probably seen a so-called "atomic watch", which is actually a simple quartz watch that sets itself by synching with a distant atomic clock via satellite or terrestrial radio signals.
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