Good Question: How Do Atomic Clocks Work?

(CBS 5) -- If you really want to know what time it is, there is no better clock than this one. Lynda from Santa Rosa asked this Good Question: How do atomic clocks work, and what controls them?

ANSWER: According to astrophysicist Ryan Wyatt, atomic clocks use the very predictable and very stable movement between a nucleus and its surrounding electrons to tell time. Many atomic clocks use the pre-determined motion of cesium 133 as the "movement." The most accurate time piece is the atomic clock located at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.

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