Atomic Clock in Boulder Colorado
One of the most understudied features of the city of Boulder is that it is the housing location of the nation’s most accurate clock. Nestled in among the residents, universities and other cultural elements just below the Rocky Mountains is one of the centers for National Institute of Standards and Technology. In total there are approximately 350 of these centers across the nation that are intended to promote and maintain science and technology standards as well as quality of life. The center in Boulder also happens to be the location of the atomic clock. And while this is certainly something that may intrigue and interest the guests in hotels Boulder the atomic clock is not likely to be on the list of anyone’s most sought after attractions.
The National Institute’s placement in Boulder grew out of its history as a prominent coal, silver and gold mining center in the early 1900s. This was a major component of the city’s economy and as it waned in the 1940’s and the city began to actively recruit clean industry. This developed into the National Bureau of Standard, which is now the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The clock is the most accurate time keeping machine in the world and uses an atomic resonance frequency standard for its basic element of time keeping. It is also used for international time distribution services and is a major part of controlling global navigation satellite systems, such as the increasingly popular GPS devices. It also controls the frequency of television broadcasts. Instead of using radioactivity, the atomic clock employs the microwave signal that is emitted by electrons as they change energy levels. There are atomic clocks located across the world and together they maintain the International Atomic Time. Maintaining civil time a slightly different scale is used which is the Coordinated Universal Time. It is based on the UTC, though it is synchronized by the use of leap seconds.
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