The Quantum Watch: Swedish Physicists Find New Way to Measure Time

The Quantum Watch: Swedish Physicists Find New Way to Measure Time
Illustration of quantum particles. Sola Solandra/Shutterstock
Jennifer Margulis
Updated:
As they described in a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Research, a team of particle physicists at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, have invented what they called a “quantum watch.”
This watch, the researchers argued, is intrinsically accurate. In fact, they contended in the study their quantum watch can measure time much more accurately than time has ever been measured before.

Time When You Get Tiny

Quantum particles are the smallest possible pieces of entity. Atoms are made up of quantum particles. The problem with measuring time at the finest scale is that you need to look at these quantum particles, and events get fuzzy at that scale.
Jennifer Margulis
Jennifer Margulis
Author
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist and author of “Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family.” A Fulbright awardee and mother of four, she has worked on a child survival campaign in West Africa, advocated for an end to child slavery in Pakistan on prime-time TV in France, and taught post-colonial literature to nontraditional students in inner-city Atlanta. Learn more about her at JenniferMargulis.net
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