[ RadSafe ] Rb-87 Atomic Clocks

[franz.schoenhofer at chello.at]

RADSAFErs,

I am not at all knowledgable in those "atomic clocks", but I think that the principle I can find out tomorrow on Wikipedia (it is past midnight in Austria). The second question is for me, how the Rb-87 is produced, it might have to be very pure or not? 

Personally I had and still posess an old wrist watch with radium dials, most of them already lost their luminous paint, I have a wonderful old alarm clock, whose ciphers do not glow any more, but show a considerable activity. (BTW I received it from a previous US RADSAFE participant!)

I have done investigations on the diffusion of tritium from wrist watches into the body, yielding very surprising results of relatively high concentrations of tritium in the body. 

There is also a philosophical view of this question. I do not doubt at all that for science and especially military applications very accurate time determinations are an extremely must. But I doubt whether this makes any sense for private use. 

There is a very great book available on "Universal History of Time" by Hans Lenz, which deals with all aspects of the phenomen of time, from philosophical concepts, astronomy, (lenght of days, months, years, moon calenders, sun calenders, all their pitfalls etc), calenders, measurement of time in many various cultural areas (Christians, Islam, India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Middle and South America.....) and measurement methods of time from old ages until the most modern methods. 

.For all non-German speaking RADSAFErs a "caveat" - my copy is in German and I rather doubt that it has been translated into English since its publication in 2005. Those who are still interested in it are cordially invited to contact me for closer information.

It is now 00:56 according to my wrist watch, 00:57 according both to my computer clock and to my radiocontrolled weather station. My car usually shows varying times, depending on how long the last adjustment has been ago. Today it was about three minutes ahead, when I went with my mother (87 years old) to Carnuntum, east of Vienna, which was a Roman fortification and town almost 2000 years ago - how did they know when it was time for dinner? (Sorry, this is  m y  way of joking.)

Best regards,

Franz

















So much about watches and radioactivity for tonight
Best regards,

Franz




---- Maury <maurysis at peoplepc.com> schrieb:
> Hi Bernie,
> Here is one source, but they are costly ... I used a google search 
> including the quote enclosure: "Atomic Clock controlled directly by 
> internal Rb-87".
> Best,
> Maury&Dog {MaurySiskel maurysis at peoplepc.com]
> =============================================
> 
> http://www.spectratime.com/ad/rubidium-oscillators/?gclid=COKNipT_pqoCFcQ32godzX-aXw
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> On 7/29/2011 10:29 AM, Bernard L. Cohen wrote:
> > Where can you buy atomic clocks?
> >
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--
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD, MinRat
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
mobile: ++43 699 1706 1227