BMME 101 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Global Positioning System, Atomic Clock, Pendulum Clock
Document Summary
Symetricon"s csac - the world"s first commercially available chip scale atomic clock. Symetricon"s csac is the size of a quarter. The most accurate atomic clocks lose about a second over 138 million years. Block of jell-o wiggles back and forth just like the swings of a pendulum in a grandfather clock. Inside of an atomic clock there is a chunk of quartz of a simillar shape if tapped with a jolt of electricity it will oscillate some 5 million times per second. Keeps time to about 1 second in 90,000 years. Only fraction of accuracy needed for atomic clock. Quartz loses time because it slows down and needs to be nudged to restore its oscillation. Cesium atoms in atomic clock are used to control nudges very accurately. Every time the quarts"s oscillations slow down just the tinest bit we give it a tap, an electric jolt at the right time, so in essence the oscillations never decay.
