The Second- The duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to a hyperfine transition of cesium-133 in the ground state.
Standard clocks measure each second in what is called universal time. Not every clock is accurate, but each clock measures the frequencies of the cesiums as best they can. There are some much more accurate clocks that monitor the accuracy of the cesium interactions. If we didn't keep track of time, none of this would be relevant! Since we do though and each second is defined so distinctly, the motions of these small atoms make time relevant.
Hello Jack,
ReplyDeleteI hope this message finds you well.
I enjoyed reading about your description of the universal time that standard clocks generally measure. In reading Tal's article, I noticed something that I believe may pertain to your description of seconds as well. There was a specific portion of page 301 in which Tal describes why measuring seconds may prove problematic and/or difficult to accomplish. What did you think of this idea?
I thank you in advance for your response.
Best,
Drew Califano