[SOC] Atomic clocks vs. earthquakes

[fipo]

What good is a clock that neither gain nor lose one second in 3.7 
billion years,
when an earthquake in Chile may shorten the day by 1.26 microseconds.

Scientists at NASA say that the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck
Chile on Saturday, February 27th may have shifted Earth's axis and
created shorter days. If their preliminary calculations are correct
each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter/

BOULDER, Colo.—Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST) have built an enhanced version of an experimental 
atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s 
most precise clock, more than twice as precise as the previous 
pacesetter based on a mercury atom.

The new aluminum clock would neither gain nor lose one second in about 
3.7 billion years, according to measurements to be reported in Physical 
Review Letters.*


Finn #791