time is atomical

The National Institute of Standards and Technology just got a new clock! And when they get a new clock, they do NOT mess around.

The NIST F-2 will work with the old NIST F-1 to keep time for everything. F-2 will never gain nor lose a second for about 3 million years!

So now you won’t have to be late or early ever again! It uses a cesium atom to measure time. It measures “the frequency of a particular transition in the cesium atom-which is 9,192,631,770 vibrations per second.”

No, I did not know that as a random fact. I found it on the very informative NIST website!

And yes, just like every other government agency, their website if full of totally amazing bits of info that you would NEVER think came from that government agency!

I encourage you to check out the “Did You Know” and the “For Kids” sections.

They have riddles, a word scramble, and hidden pictures all about stuff that rely on the NIST! Also, the best part, find out your Nano IQ!

Ok, so there are some glitches in the Nano IQ section. I tried to take the quiz and never got a score. But that’s ok, because the questions ARE COMPLETELY CRAZY HARD FOR CHILDREN!

And the riddles are little lessons about what NIST has done for the world. Seriously…it’s…it’s just glorious.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it every time I see a dot gov page, YOU HAVE TO CHECK THESE SITES OUT! When you have time, please, just go to these pages.

Also, NIST is on twitter. And it’s amazing. “NIST’s Simple Microfluidic Devices Now Have Valves”

That makes me laugh every time I read it. I don’t know why.

NIST, I say all of this out of love. I truly want people to learn more about you and all government agencies because you all do so much more than we think. Also, I have, like, 20 clocks, so I LOVE being on time.

I’m off to get valves.

Enjoy Everything.

-dj