Ytterbium Atomic Clock Sets Record for Precision

Can detect relativistic effects of objects just a centimeter apart

Time can now be divided into slivers hundreds of trillions of times smaller than a second, thanks to a pair of atomic clocks made from ytterbium that have just set a new record for precision.

This could allow us to detect how an object just 1 centimetre above another might age differently, as prescribed by Einstein's theory of general relativity. It could also set a new standard definition for the second.

"We've reached a new level, an order of magnitude impro