NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Atomic Clock

By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide

The uncertainty of NIST-F1 is less than 2 x 10-15, which means it would neither gain nor lose a second in 20 million years! The graph above shows how NIST-F1 compares to previous atomic clocks built by NIST. It is approximately three times more accurate than NIST-7, a cesium beam atomic clock that served as the United State's primary time and frequency standard from 1993-1999.

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• NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Atomic Clock
• How Accurate is an Atomic Clock?
• How an Atomic Clock Works
• How an Atomic Clock Works Part Two
• Naval Atomic Clock

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