ttime

[razorfane]

There are two clocks, a broken one and a working one. The working one slows down exactly 1 second every day. Whic of the two watches has a more frequent accurate reading of the time? WHY?

[Ophiolite]

Obviously the broken one, as it is correct twice a day. The working clock is correct only once every 43,200 days.

[swansont]

There are two clocks, a broken one and a working one. The working one slows down exactly 1 second every day. Whic of the two watches has a more frequent accurate reading of the time? [b']WHY?[/b]

 

If you know the clock slows down by exactly 1 second every day, it is still accurate, as long as you account for the accumulated time difference. It is far easier to do it that way - measure and account for differences - than to make the clock run at the correct rate, which can only happen to some limited precision. So that is, in fact, exactly what the timing community does, though the differences are far less than a second.

 

Before the advent of the leap second, the clocks themselves used to be adjusted to keep in synch with the earth's rotation, but this proved to be very problematic, since each clock in an ensemble has different tuning characteristics. Adding (or possibly subtracting) the second is easy, because it happens after the oscillator, in the digital counter/processor.

[razorfane]

it is still accurate, as long as you account for the accumulated time difference. It is far easier to do it that way - measure and account for differences - than to make the clock run at the correct rate, which can only happen to some limited precision.

yeah, but when the question says accurate it actually means exactly accurate. I could have put that it slows down 5 min every day. Many people do this, they forward their time 5 min. so it helps them be early at their job or meeting, but if they know how much time it has been forwarded, what good is it?. They just keep on subtracting and get the real time. anyway that was just a comment.