Beside the general theoretical considerations as of what answer is more acceptable (sincerely I agree so far) and what method could be used to solve the matter, can anybody out there point me please to any article on actual measurements of the variation rate of the earth's rotational speed, not based on clocks?
Antonio,
Consider that you need at least two clocks before you can make a rate measurement. One is the DUT; the other the REF. So it is not possible to measure the earth (DUT) without using some other clock (REF). Make sense?
(Speculative hint: We accept that the universe is expanding. Might this affect the fine structure of matter, including cesium atoms? Is there any adverse proof? What is easier to think? a) the expansion of the universe doesn't affect at all the properties of matter. b) it might.).
There is no small amount of effort being put into this question. The results are not usually given as yes/no, zero or non-zero. Instead they just calmly establish a new lower bound on what the drift rate might be. Whether the answer is (a) or (b) doesn't change the fact that the earth day is a poor clock compared with other clocks now available. Besides tidal friction effects which might be hard to imagine, or lunar effects which you already know about, note that every time it rains or glaciers form and melt it changes the angular momentum of the poor spinning planet. Then again, many OCXO are also affected by humidity... /tvb _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
