
The remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College clock - CarolineW
https://theconversation.com/the-remarkable-accuracy-of-the-trinity-college-clock-and-what-makes-it-tick-57195
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smoyer
"This remarkable accuracy is normally expected of modern electronic
timepieces, but the quartz watch on your wrist is probably only good enough to
achieve a few seconds' accuracy a week. The Trinity clock with its various
clever compensation systems is a remarkable testament to the importance of
sound science and the longevity of good engineering."

The quartz watch wasn't supposed to be more accurate than a tower clock. It
was supposed to be more durable with about an equal accuracy. You can make a
wristwatch more accurate at the expense of battery life, but you can't really
wear a tower clock on your wrist!

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user2994cb
Or consider the Queens' College sundial:

[http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/life-at-queens/about-the-
college...](http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/life-at-queens/about-the-
college/college-facts/reading-the-dial-in-old-court)

~~~
stordoff
The Selwyn sundial (my College, FWIW) is also interesting. Rather than showing
solar time, it shows the hours since the last sunset and sunrise:

[https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fhk1/Sundials/Selwyn/Selwyn.pdf](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fhk1/Sundials/Selwyn/Selwyn.pdf)

~~~
user2994cb
Nice, I haven't seen that one (I was at Churchill, which doesn't have a decent
sundial AFAIK, despite Frank King being a Fellow ("Chairman of the British
Sundial Society" apparently - he did the Queens' recalibration as well as that
Selwyn dial).

Magdalene has a interesting modern dial too.

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tim333
Pretty cool though I still prefer the Corpus clock a few yards down the road
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock)

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stordoff
I enjoy the design of it, but it is worth bearing in mind that:

> The clock is entirely accurate only once every five minutes. The rest of the
> time, the pendulum may seem to catch or stop, and the lights may lag or,
> then, race to get ahead. According to Taylor, this erratic motion reflects
> life's "irregularity".

~~~
tim333
That was done deliberately and must have been quite hard to achieve. He did it
to make it more interesting
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NSKCuwnh_U&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NSKCuwnh_U&feature=youtu.be&t=1m59s)

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wronskian
Those interested by this article may enjoying browsing through Hugh Hunt's
other pieces - he's done some pretty amazing things in the name of popular
engineering!
[http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/](http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/)

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anotherevan
“Pigeons can also play havoc with time.”

This has to be the best single sentence to take out of context. When I read
that, my first thought was, “Especially if you’re trying to run NTP over
RFC1149.”

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leeoniya
also interesting: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortt-
Synchronome_clock](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortt-Synchronome_clock)

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amelius
What is keeping the pendulum swinging?

What is the Q-factor of this clock?

~~~
andrewpe
I just did a quick Google search and found this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz9nxzgtBaU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz9nxzgtBaU)

It's wound up like any other old pendulum clock.

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neil_s
Upvoted for pointing me to The Conversation. Great find! Academic results
presented in a readable fashion, but by the study authors rather than a
Chinese Whispers of journalists ignorant of the topic.

