Atomic Clocks: an Application of Spectroscopy in the Last Installment of This Column (1), I Talked About Clocks As the First Scientific Instrument
14 Spectroscopy 21(1) January 2007 www.spectroscopyonline.com The Baseline Atomic Clocks: An Application of Spectroscopy In the last installment of this column (1), I talked about clocks as the first scientific instrument. What do clocks have to do with spectroscopy? Actually, the world’s most accurate clocks, atomic clocks, are based upon a spectroscopic transition of cesium or other elements, making spectroscopy a fundamental tool in our measurements of the natural universe. David W. Ball ime is one of the seven fundamental quantities in Originally, a second was defined as part of a minute, nature. I made a case in the last installment of this which was part of an hour, which was in turn defined as T column (1) that mechanical devices for measuring part of a day. Thus, 1 s was 1/(60 ϫ 60 24), or 1/86,400 time — clocks — might be considered the world’s first sci- of a day. However, even by the 17th century, defining the entific instruments. Clocks are ubiquitous because the day itself was difficult. Was the day based upon the position measurement of time is a fundamental activity that is im- of the sun (the solar day) or the position of distant stars portant to computer users, pilots, and lollygaggers alike. (the sidereal day)? At what latitude (that is, position toward the north or south) is a day measured? Over time it was rec- The Second ognized that measuring time accurately was a challenge. Quantities of time are expressed in a variety of units that In 1660, the Royal Society proposed that a second be de- we teach our grade-schoolers, but the IUPAC-approved termined by the half-period (that is, one swing) of a pendu- fundamental unit of time is the second (abbreviated “s” not lum of a given length.
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