News New aluminium ion atomic clocks

[tblaxland]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/24/3020863.htm?section=justin

The clocks he is talking about are the world's best experimental atomic clocks. They keep time based on the ticking of a single aluminium ion as it vibrates between two energy states.

They are so accurate they lose or gain less than one second every 3.7 billion years.

In his theory of general relativity, Einstein predicted that a clock at a higher elevation would run faster than a clock on the planet's surface because it experiences a weaker gravitational force.

The theory has been proven before...but this is the first time scientists have shown the theory holds if you elevate one of the clocks by just 33 centimetres.
...
Just one foot height difference would get you older by 100 billionths of a second or 90 billionths of a second over 79 years of life

 

[statickid]

their comments are hilarious

 

[jedidia]

from special relativity to gender wars in one post? the net sure is an accumulation of rather odd people... :blink:

Anyways, that's one fantastically precise clock they have there. A shame it's not swiss... :lol: