Monday, February 3, 2014

astro picture for the day


ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope image

- 05Feb2014 edit/ Science/Technology news for the day

I've mentioned atomic clocks before and noted that these technologies advanced rapidly.  Only most people wouldn't know it.  They don't know the time kept in everyones computers and cell phones hooked up to the internet are determined to great accuracy by atomic clocks.

Clocks in general depend on some period motion.  It started out with the sun and sundials, then pendulums(Galileo and then Huygens really), and today with atomic clocks its the periodic back and forth movement of electrons from a lower to a higher orbit and back down again.

Atomic clocks are used for satellite navigation, navigation of space probes.  But, soon, the accuracy of atomic clocks will make for small super sensitive sensors of gravity, thermodynamics(heat), movement accelerations, and magnetic/electric fields. One application never mentioned in astronomical telescopes!

Atomic clocks are just one technology that is getting advanced of course.

One maybe exciting nanotechnology development is the ability to make arbitrary nano diamond without high pressures, just chemistry.  This is still just a theoretical development. 

No comments:

Post a Comment