Important scientific theories always take a long time to test. So is the theory of the eminent physicist Einstein. It took scientists up to 14 years just… to stare at the clock.
Have you ever wanted to kill time, so you just stared at the clock and hoped it would pass faster? Of course, the passage of time is still the same, not favoring anyone. It passes at the same rate in everyone’s life.
It is also the basis for an Einstein theory: the universe is a giant clock operating according to immutable principles. Time or space must also obey these principles.
Albert Einstein.
Or to put it more succinctly, anywhere, a clock rotates at the same speed, never changing under the same conditions.
Does it go any faster, or will the time change anything if you don’t take your eyes off the watch for a very long time? 14 years for example.
That’s exactly what physicists from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have done.
This incredible experiment began in November 1999, with the observation of 12 atomic clocks located in Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Italy. The atomic clock was chosen because it is the most accurate clock in the world.
More importantly, it works on the workings of atoms. The light emitted by the atom shows how the nucleus and electron interact, and thereby calculates time to a first-order degree of accuracy.
The atomic clock is located at NIST Headquarters.
The problem is that no one has the patience to sit and observe the oscillations over and over again over and over again.
“If the temperature changes every 5 degrees Celsius, maintenance work will be carried out. Most of the steps are automated, but we have to make sure someone always keeps an eye on them,” – Mr. Bijunath Patla, chief said the research team.
Scientists had to keep an eye on the temperature and humidity in the clock room for 14 years.
The variable is nothing but time, and space too. Because the clocks are placed on the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the Sun, so after every tick, they move to another point in the universe.
The Earth can be likened to an elevator falling in the magnetic field of the Sun, and the clocks represent all the objects in that elevator.
All objects in that elevator fall with the same acceleration, or time passes with the same velocity. That’s what Einstein’s theory offered, and it was tested when the experiment ended after 450 million seconds, or 14 years.
No matter what time, space in the universe, the clocks still run not an inch apart. The theory of relativity that the universe operates according to constant laws gained a solid foundation after this experiment.
The results of the experiment were published in the journal Nature Physics.