New Atomic Fountain Clock Joins Elite Group That Keeps the World on Time (nist.gov)
- Reference: 0177225999
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/04/30/201234/new-atomic-fountain-clock-joins-elite-group-that-keeps-the-world-on-time
- Source link: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/04/new-atomic-fountain-clock-joins-elite-group-keeps-world-time
> Clocks on Earth are ticking a bit more regularly thanks to NIST-F4, a new atomic clock at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus in Boulder, Colorado. This month, NIST researchers published a journal article [1]establishing NIST-F4 as one of the world's most accurate timekeepers . NIST has also submitted the clock for acceptance as a primary frequency standard by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the body that oversees the world's time.
>
> NIST-F4 measures an unchanging frequency in the heart of cesium atoms, the internationally agreed-upon basis for defining the second since 1967. The clock is based on a "fountain" design that represents the gold standard of accuracy in timekeeping. NIST-F4 ticks at such a steady rate that if it had started running 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed, it would be off by less than a second today.
>
> By joining a small group of similarly elite time pieces run by just 10 countries around the world, NIST-F4 makes the foundation of global time more stable and secure. At the same time, it is helping to steer the clocks NIST uses to keep official U.S. time. Distributed via radio and the internet, official U.S. time is critical for telecommunications and transportation systems, financial trading platforms, data center operations and more.
[1] https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/04/new-atomic-fountain-clock-joins-elite-group-keeps-world-time
I Will Stick With The Sun (Score:2)
But you do you. Since you are so smarter than the Sun.
As long as DOGE doesn't screw wirh it (Score:3, Interesting)
How long until this administration kills off NIST? Any bets?
Re: (Score:2)
Might be ok as Starlink probably benefits from having robust distributed accurate time references, of which this is part of.
Re: (Score:3)
Too late. The [1]cutting [broadbandbreakfast.com] is [2]already [wired.com] in progress.
[1] https://broadbandbreakfast.com/doge-hits-nist-sparks-industry-concerns/
[2] https://www.wired.com/story/nist-doge-layoffs-atomic-spectroscopy/
Good news (Score:2)
Nice to have some good news out of the USA for a change.
Journalists ... (Score:2)
> Clocks on Earth are ticking a bit more regularly thanks to NIST-F4, ...
> NIST-F4 measures an unchanging frequency in the heart of cesium atoms, ...
So, the unchanging frequency is more regular? (*sigh*)
if it had started running 100 million years ago... (Score:2)
It would probably have been destroyed 35 million years later when the asteroid hit Chicxulub .
Extrapolating to millions of years (Score:2)
> if it had started running 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed, it would be off by less than a second today.
This extrapolation is not valid. Sure, the match is (probably) right. But we have no way to know what external factors, over 100 million years, might affect the speed of this timekeeping method. We know, for example, that the accuracy of orbiting Cesium clocks is affected by the topography of the earth. [1]https://www.vice.com/en/articl... [vice.com] Over 100 million years, it wouldn't take much interference from, say, passing asteroids, to potentially affect the accuracy, leading to more than a second of discrepancy at
[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/nist-new-atomic-clock-map-of-earth-gravity/#:~:text=Right%20now%20the%20state%20of%20the%20art%20techniques%20aren%E2%80%99t%20quite%20good%20enough%20so%20we%E2%80%99re%20limited%20by%20how%20well%20we%20understand%20gravity%20on%20different%20parts%20of%20the%20Earth
Nice!!! (Score:2)
Now I know exactly how late I am.
Interesting time geek link to the first true atomic wristwatch.
[1]http://leapsecond.com/pages/at... [leapsecond.com]
[1] http://leapsecond.com/pages/atomic-bill/