Dave Evans offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: From Sundials to Atomic Clocks: The Measurement of Time Author: Dave Evans Category: Science Word Count: 676 Keywords: Time Server, NTP Server, Atomic Clock, Atomic Time Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
The passage of time is an abstract concept that we all take for granted. We all eat, sleep and go to work at roughly the same time each day. Few of us give little thought about it but it is an integral part of all our lives. That's why humans have, for thousands of years, continuously developed more and more sophisticated ways of measuring the passage of time. From sundials to computer time servers and atomic clocks, people have for generations strived to accurately measure the passage of time. This article describes the fundamental nature of time, how it is measured by movement, and how it is closely related to the concept of space. It also highlights the advancements of high technology time references and International time standards. For centuries, people have measured time with reference to movement. The hands of a clock moving around a clock-face to denote the passage of hours, minutes and seconds. The orbit of the Earth around the Sun to describe a year. The orbit of the moon around the Earth to describe a month. A day is described by the rotation of the Earth itself. In fact space and time are closely related. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity suggests time is closely entwined with the concept of space. He suggested that both time and space began with the Big Bang and the creation of the Universe some 14 Billion years ago. At the instance just before the Big Bang, all matter was tightly packed into a tremendously dense, infinitely small, hot state. It's hard for us to comprehend but the universe, stars, planets and all matter contained within them emerged in a split second from this infinitely small dot. Einstein's theory also suggested that ultimately in many billions of year's time, the Universe would reach a maximum size and begin to collapse back in on itself. The universe would shrink, becoming denser and hotter and return to a state similar to that from which it emerged. However, some of the latest observations of the universe by modern telescopes have shown that the galaxies are actually moving away from each other at an ever-increasing rate. These observations imply that the Universe will continually accelerate, cool and expand. The study of the measurement of time is called Horology. Human history is littered with a large variety of devices developed to measure time. Sundials were among the earliest examples of ancient time measurement devices. A sundial uses the sun to cast a shadow on markings that indicate the hour of day. Later, mechanical clocks regulated by the movement of a pendulum were developed to accurately measure the passage of time. Today, we mainly use electronic clocks, which are based on the resonance, or movement, of a precisely cut crystal oscillator. Modern technology has seen the introduction of caesium atomic clocks, based on frequency reference masers, which can measure the passage of time to an astonishing degree. These clocks are typically accurate to one second in one million years. Atomic clocks form the basis of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which can provide positioning information for any location on the planet. The Internet is synchronised using NTP time servers which reference atomic clocks to ensure the synchronisation of computers across the globe. The precise measurement of time is critical to our modern lifestyles. So much so that International standards exist to coordinate the measurement of time across the continents of the world. This International standard is known as Coordinated Universal Time or UTC. World time is split into a series of longitudinal time zones. Time zones are generally one hour apart and their local time is referenced as an offset from UTC time. To conclude, time is an abstract concept that is inextricably linked to the concept of space and the creation of the Universe. For millennia, humans have strived to maintain precise time references. Today, modern technology allows us to maintain highly precise time references of astonishing accuracy. Atomic clock technology has resulted in the creation of many modern high-technology tools such as the GPS system and Internet time servers. Dave Evans is a technical author who specialises in computer network time synchronisation systems. He has written many articles and white papers on the subject of timing. If you would like more information about NTP Server and Time Server solutions please visit: http://www.timetools.co.uk/ ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
