![]() ![]() And the NIST strontium clock, unveiled earlier this year, will be that accurate for 5 billion years-longer than the current age of the Earth. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Colorado only loses or gains a second every 3.7 billion years. They monitor the specific radiation frequency needed to make electrons jump between energy levels. Today, the most precise clocks in the world, atomic clocks, are able to use principles of quantum theory to measure time. Standard clocks use the regular oscillations of physical objects like pendulums or quartz crystals to produce their ‘ticks’ and ‘tocks’. Clocks synchronize our technological world, keeping things like stock markets and GPS systems in line. ![]() Reliable timekeeping is about more than just your morning alarm. Here are five of the most intriguing:Ī strontium clock, unveiled by NIST and JILA in January, will keep accurate time for the next 5 billion years. His results, now called Bell’s Theorem, effectively proved that quantum properties like entanglement are as real as the moon, and today the bizarre behaviors of quantum systems are being harnessed for use in a variety of real-world applications. Perhaps the most famous example is quantum entanglement, which says that particles on opposite sides of the universe can be intrinsically linked so that they share information instantly-an idea that made Einstein scoff.īut in 1964, physicist John Stewart Bell proved that quantum physics was in fact a complete and workable theory. However, these principles break down in the quantum realm. And thanks to a hard limit on the speed of light, if you flick a switch now, the related effect could not occur instantly a million light-years away according to locality. Causality tells us that if you flick a light switch, the bulb will illuminate. For example, you know that the moon exists even when you’re not looking at it-that's realism. The trouble is that quantum physics seems to defy the common-sense notions of causality, locality and realism. The theory, which describes the workings of tiny particles and forces, notoriously made Albert Einstein so uneasy that in 1935 he and his colleagues claimed that it must be incomplete-it was too “spooky” to be real. ![]()
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