6 ms·
> despite the rest of the world defining it to be the number of shakes of a Cesium atom partway down Earth's gravity well. Hang on, the number of shakes should
by perilunar 7y ago
> despite the rest of the world defining it to be the number of shakes of a Cesium atom partway down Earth's gravity well.
Hang on, the number of shakes should be the same regardless of where you are in a gravitational well.
- whatshisface 7y agoThe rate of shaking would appear to be different due to general relativity.
- brandmeyer 7y agoThe timebases which are transmitted by the GNSS systems are in turn synchronized to the TAI network, which are all located on Earth's surface. Time does appear to be passing noticeably slower on Earth's surface compared to precision clocks in orbit. Even on the surface if you measure very carefully, you'll find that the SI second varies with respect to TAI depending on your altitude above mean sea level, too. Civil time is therefore already partly divorced from the SI second due to this effect. Why not divorce it the rest of the way?
- perilunar 7y agoI'm not disputing that clocks at altitude appear to run faster relative to clocks at sea level - as you said time is passing slower down here. But a second is always and everywhere the same 'number of shakes' locally.