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atomic clocks
What is an atomic clock?
An atomic clock is a clock that tells time by the oscillations (or movement) of atoms. For a pendulum clock, the "beat" is the pendulum, which usually oscillates at 1 or 2 Hz (one or two beat per second). The atomic clock is extremely accurate, the NIST-F2 (a atomic clock made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology) will gain or lose one second every 300 million years!
An atomic clock is a clock that tells time by the oscillations (or movement) of atoms. For a pendulum clock, the "beat" is the pendulum, which usually oscillates at 1 or 2 Hz (one or two beat per second). The atomic clock is extremely accurate, the NIST-F2 (a atomic clock made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology) will gain or lose one second every 300 million years!
How does an atomic clock work?
An atomic clock works by counting the beat of the "resonator". What is a resonator? I will give you some examples first. The resonator in an pendulum clock is the pendulum; and the resonator in a quartz clock is the vibrating quartz crystal. A resonator is kind of like an example beat. The resonator in atomic clocks is atoms, atomic clocks usually use cesium atoms; the atoms oscillates at a very high frequency: 9,192,631,770 Hz! That means 9,192,631,770 beats per second! A device scans the beats & every 9,192,631,770 times, The atoms in the atomic clock gets cooled to a millionth of a degree above absolute zero by lasers. Then it passes through a microwave chamber into a nitrogen cooled tube which reduces thermal radiation (thermal radiation can alter the "ticking rate" of the atoms. Then it passes through the microwave chamber again, and if the atom's ticking frequency matches the frequency of the microwaves in the microwave chamber, the outermost electrons of the atom would flip and the electrons will enter an excited state. Then, when a laser beams on the atoms, the excited electrons re emit the energy and the re emitted energy is detected. The frequency that is defined now is 9, 192, 631, 770 Hz. So, every 9,192,631,770 cycles 1 second passed.
An atomic clock works by counting the beat of the "resonator". What is a resonator? I will give you some examples first. The resonator in an pendulum clock is the pendulum; and the resonator in a quartz clock is the vibrating quartz crystal. A resonator is kind of like an example beat. The resonator in atomic clocks is atoms, atomic clocks usually use cesium atoms; the atoms oscillates at a very high frequency: 9,192,631,770 Hz! That means 9,192,631,770 beats per second! A device scans the beats & every 9,192,631,770 times, The atoms in the atomic clock gets cooled to a millionth of a degree above absolute zero by lasers. Then it passes through a microwave chamber into a nitrogen cooled tube which reduces thermal radiation (thermal radiation can alter the "ticking rate" of the atoms. Then it passes through the microwave chamber again, and if the atom's ticking frequency matches the frequency of the microwaves in the microwave chamber, the outermost electrons of the atom would flip and the electrons will enter an excited state. Then, when a laser beams on the atoms, the excited electrons re emit the energy and the re emitted energy is detected. The frequency that is defined now is 9, 192, 631, 770 Hz. So, every 9,192,631,770 cycles 1 second passed.
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