Poor get poorer
As always, given the inequities built into the global economic system, the poorest people in the world have been the…
The 229Th nuclear clock would be orders of magnitude more accurate than the best atomic clocks. Considering that caesium clocks are already accurate to one part in 1,014 and clocks based on other atoms and also clocks on optical frequencies are even more accurate, is it worth the effort to work on nuclear clocks? A comment on the paper by Marianna Safronova from the University of Delaware, carried in Nature, says, “Every time that clock precision has improved, new and frequently unexpected applications have emerged.”
This apart, an ever present role for more accurate clocks is to probe for variations of fundamental constants, like the charge of the electron or Planck&’s constant, which are possibilities to resolve some conundrums in physics. Ultra-precise clocks can also be useful in the quest for “dark matter”, which appears to account for the bulk of the mass of the universe.
Nearer home, more accurate timekeeping would refine the Global Positioning System, a technology based on signals exchanged by 24 satellites in orbit around the earth. Another important use is for survey and prospecting. As the gravitational force of masses affects the pace of time, the most accurate clocks would be able to create 3D maps of an area by a simple aerial survey and even detect underground deposits of ores or oilfields.
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