Re: AP EXCLUSIVE: Power grid change may disrupt clocks

[Guest guest]

That's interesting. I thought the machines worked like watches with a quartz crystal keeping the time.

I wonder what other effects this experiment might have. It seems to me that if they are going to allow more variation in the currents as they say that surges would be more likely, including more powerful ones over a wider area. For that matter, might not such a surge cascade through larger parts of the network, rather like how the infamous New York outage, the one that blacked out most of the Northeast when was it in the 70's maybe?, did?

In a message dated 6/24/2011 5:24:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

AP EXCLUSIVE: Power grid change may disrupt clocks

[Guest guest]

Crystal oscillators can provide very actuate timing for short periods but

over days and months even a very small frequency drift will throw a clock

off by hours... Because the ocillator will run either fast or slow and

the error accumulates over time. The 60 Hz on the power line is

stabilized by the rotating inertia of all the generators connected to the

continental power grid and tuned to stay in sync the National Institute

of Standards and Technology Master Atomic Clock. That tuning keeps

clocks that use the power grid as a time reference more accurate over

months than any inexpensive crystal oscillator can be...

At 06:39 PM 6/24/2011, you wrote:

That's interesting. I thought the machines worked like

watches with a quartz crystal keeping the time.

I wonder what other effects this experiment might have. It seems to me

that if they are going to allow more variation in the currents as they

say that surges would be more likely, including more powerful ones over a

wider area. For that matter, might not such a surge cascade through

larger parts of the network, rather like how the infamous New York

outage, the one that blacked out most of the Northeast when was it in the

70's maybe?, did?

In a message dated 6/24/2011 5:24:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

no_reply writes:

AP EXCLUSIVE: Power grid change may

disrupt clocks

[Guest guest]

Cool. Thanks for clearing that up. My main clock is also linked to the radio signals sent out by the master atomic clock people and so keeps accurate time.

Crystal oscillators can provide very actuate timing for short periods but over days and months even a very small frequency drift will throw a clock off by hours... Because the ocillator will run either fast or slow and the error accumulates over time. The 60 Hz on the power line is stabilized by the rotating inertia of all the generators connected to the continental power grid and tuned to stay in sync the National Institute of Standards and Technology Master Atomic Clock. That tuning keeps clocks that use the power grid as a time reference more accurate over months than any inexpensive crystal oscillator can be...