It's time to update time

Oh noooo!! Science nerds are on the loose again! CERN writes:
Time to change: CERN scientists propose 25-hour day

Scientists at the BETA experiment, in CERN’s Antimatter Factory, have made the most precise measurement of the second yet, which could result in the day lasting an hour longer

Now, [the 25 hour day] may become a reality, thanks to new measurements on the second from the BETA experiment at CERN’s Antimatter Factory. The experiment used the cesium fountain clock – one of the most precise clocks in the world, used to define SI units and help set coordinated universal time (UTC) – to precisely measure the second using cesium. In conjunction with this clock, BETA also used anticesium atoms produced by the Antimatter Factory to compare the two definitions of the second given by matter and antimatter. By taking the average, scientists say that timekeeping can now be more accurate than ever before.

The cesium atomic clock works by an oscillator sending a wave with a frequency of exactly 9,192,631,770 Hz (using the old second definition), which is the frequency needed to excite the cesium atoms. If the oscillator is incorrect, the non-excited atoms cause an electric signal to jolt the oscillator, creating a feedback loop to keep the clock running. An atomic clock will lose only one second in 138 million years.

The cesium fountain clock

BETA’s new measurement on anticesium found its excitation frequency to be smaller than that of cesium: 8,499,682,790 oscillations of the oscillator were needed to excite its atoms. By taking the average of matter and antimatter, BETA scientists calculated the second to 8,846,157,280 oscillations: around 96% of the current definition. This means the day would last 24 hours, 56 minutes and 24 seconds. This would be rounded up to 25 hours during the week and rounded down during the weekend.

“We hope that this new measurement will make all our lives easier,” Qui continues. “Using antimatter, time will fly by more slowly.”
Wait a minnit! Rounding up should be on the weekends to allow for more time, or cesium spasms, off the job. Worker rights are being violated! 



By Germaine: The science guy operating at 8,846,157,280 oscillations, i.e., on all three cylinders! 


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