Be Smart
The Unexpected Measure that Makes the Modern World Tick
All of modern society relies upon a seemingly simple but surprisingly complex unit of measurement: the second. But knowing exactly what a “second” is is more complicated than you might think!
SciShow
The Nuclear-Powered Clocks of the Future
Atomic clocks are the best timekeepers humanity's got these days, but scientists are working toward something even better: a SUB-atomic (aka nuclear) clock.
SciShow
The Best Atomic Clock Ever Built?
Turns out, two atomic clocks are indeed better than one. And what role does sleep play in memory suppression?
PBS
The Leap Second Explained
Every once in a while we add a second onto our days. Similar to the Leap Year, this is known as the Leap Second. But, if the Leap Year already helps us account for the offset from a calendar in days, what exactly does the Leap Second do?...
SciShow
The Mysterious Leap Second
Leap Day's got nothing on the Leap SECOND! Hank explains why a second is being added to 2012 and why some are upset about it.
SciShow
A Brief History of Timekeeping
It's time for another leap second! Join SciShow as we celebrate by exploring the long and strange history of timekeeping.
TED-Ed
Who decides how long a second is? | John Kitching
In 1967, researchers gathered to answer a long-running scientific question: just how long is a second? It might seem obvious at first. A second is the tick of a clock, the swing of a pendulum, the time it takes to count to one. But how...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does your smartphone know your location? - Wilton L. Virgo
GPS location apps on a smartphone can be very handy when mapping a travel route or finding nearby events. But how does your smartphone know where you are? Wilton L. Virgo explains how the answer lies 12,000 miles over your head, in an...
Great Big Story
Judah the Time Lord, mastering time with atomic clocks
Delve into the precise world of atomic clocks with Judah, the man who keeps the U.S. on time, from phones to power grids.
Dom Burgess
How Do Atomic Clocks Work?
We take lots of things for granted in this world; GPS, the internet and of course particle accelerators (well, maybe not particle accelerators!). However, none of these things would be possible without atomic clocks. In this video Dom...
National Institute of Standards and Technology
NIST Unscripted: Dave Wineland
Dave Wineland, NIST physicist and 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics, discusses his landmark work developing laser cooling, a technique that has led to ultraprecise atomic timekeeping and advances in experimental quantum computing.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Single Ion Clocks featuring NIST Nobel Laureate David Wineland
This is a short video clip of Nobel Laureate David Wineland, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), excerpted from a multimedia physics course called Physics for the 21st Century. NIST Physicist James...