Testing Site

Engineer Guy vs. The Atomic Clock

Education Science
Engineer Guy vs. The Atomic Clock

Here is the fifth video in Engineer Guy Series #4. The element of the week is cesium, as in “cesium fountain atomic clock.” Watching it, my jaw was on the floor by 0:20, as Bill opens by showing off the Symmetricom CSAC, which is the world’s first fully functional chip-scale atomic clock. It’s about the size of a quarter. Bill then segues, thusly, into the general theory of atomic clocks: “I’ll start with Jell-O,” he says, producing a quivering green mound of it. And it just gets better from there, wrapping up with a clear, concise explanation of the Global Positioning System, and why it couldn’t work, at all, without the use of atomic clocks. [Thanks, Bill!]

Update:  Woops!  Sorry for the dupe, folks!  Engineer Guy videos always get us really excited.

More:
How a cesium fountain atomic clock works

What will the next generation of Make: look like? We’re inviting you to shape the future by investing in Make:. By becoming an investor, you help decide what’s next. The future of Make: is in your hands. Learn More.

Tagged

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

View more articles by Sean Michael Ragan
Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!

ADVERTISEMENT

FEEDBACK