I've gotten myself confused ...easily done when you're not a physicist (just a lowly EE.) :-)
I am studying cesium clock design and trying to learn how these complex instruments actually work. I seem to be getting the understanding on the 'workings' of the clock ...the tube, the counters, disciplining, etc. But I have a higher level question I need help understanding. (Remember ...not a physicist here.) Who decided 9,192,631,770 cycles of 'light' constitute one second? I don't mean who the person was, or which company or institution or when. I ask, why not ...771 cycles ...or ...669 cycles???? What I need is the understanding of what a 'second' is defined to be without having the definition of a 'second' to begin with. This seems all so recursive to me. Thank you. (remember - - you guys said there were no dumb questions - - or at least, we should ask them anyway.) _______________________________________________ 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.
