Ole! we are finally there. Little by little we have arrived to the todays clocks. Even though the quartz clocks were created around 1925 we still use them today. The clocks were built with quartz crystals. They work like this: a battery sends electricity to a crystal which vibrates; the vibration sends out evenly spaced and very rapid electric signals that measure the time and control the clock display. The early problems with the quartz clocks were that the crystals were affected by temperature (hot/cold) and by their own shape and size. They ran differently in the summer and winter. The batteries would not last long enough and they had to be replaced very often. But today all these problems were solved and most clocks and watches have quartz crystals. And, as usually, we always save the best for last. Yes, the atomic clocks. You would never think that people were looking to measure the time by using the atoms vibration. And yet, they did. After years of struggle and experimenting, the scientists created the atomic clock the cream of the crop the most accurate clock ever. They have three parts: power source, resonator and display. Atomic clocks are able to measure time in nanoseconds billionths of a second and even picoseconds you dont want to know how fast that is. See picture... what picture? Don't you remember? We cannot load pictures. Gotcha - you didn't read my previous articles. It's OK, you can do it later. This being said, we are done talking about clocks how they were invented and how they evolved through the ages. I need a subject for my next article, so, if you have something in mind, send me a line. Dont forget time related only. Have a great day! Disclaimer See Ancient Clocks |
