Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T05:27:51.567Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Materials on Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Donald B. Sullivan
Get access

Extract

We all know that the properties of a material can change with time, but is the inverse possible? How can materials have an effect on time? In the strictest sense, the idea is absurd. However, our ability to keep track of time is clearly dependent on the materials we use to construct our clocks. The performance of many early mechanical clocks depended on the materials of fabrication, and today's high-technology clocks depend no less critically on materials.

My objective in this brief article is to divulge a few materials problems involved in clock technology. Since I do not attempt a comprehensive report, I will undoubtedly leave out some issues that colleagues in the field would consider important.

Navigation has been a key driving force for the development of accurate timekeeping, at least since the 17th century. While many other important applications require accurate timekeeping (e.g., synchronization for telecommunications and electrical power distribution), I focus on navigation because of its historical significance and its particularly graphic illustration of why clocks have attained such prominence.

Type
Special Features
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , April 1995 , pp. 51 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. For an excellent review on the accurate measurement of time, see Itano, W.M. and Ramsey, N.F., Sci. Am. 269 (1993) p. 54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. For a review of the early history of timekeeping, see Landes, D.S., Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1983).Google Scholar
3.Johnson, D.S., Sea History 66 (1993) p. 18.Google Scholar
4.Mercer, F.A. and Haydon, K., Sea History 66 (1993) p. 22.Google Scholar
5. For a review of the environmental sensitivities of quartz oscillators, see Walls, F.L. and Gagnepain, J.J., IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferrolect., Freq. Contr. 39 (1992) p. 241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Audoin, C., Lesage, P., and Mungall, A.G., IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. IM-23 (1974) p. 501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Ballato, A. and Gualtieri, J.G., IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferrolect., Freq. Contr. 41 (1994) p. 834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. For a review of the state of development for quartz devices, see Vig, J. and Walls, F.L., IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferrolect., Freq. Contr. 41 (1994) p. 834 42 in press.Google Scholar
9. For a good review of the early history of quartz-device development, see Marrison, W.A., Bell Syst. Tech. J. 27 (1948) p. 510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Parker, T.E., Andres, D., Greer, J.A., and Montress, G., IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferrolect., Freq. Contr. 41 (1994) p. 853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Walls, F.L., Handel, P.H., Besson, R., and Gagnepain, J.J., in Proc. IEEE Int. Freq. Contr. Symp., IEEE Cat. #92CH3083-3 (1992) p. 327.Google Scholar
12.Vanier, J. and Vessot, R.F.C., Metrologia 6 (1970) p. 52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar