Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How a quartz watch counts time
A quartz watch counts the vibrations of a crystal and divides that count into seconds.
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From the opening
A quartz watch counts time by keeping a small piece of quartz vibrating at a steady resonant rate and counting those vibrations. Electronic dividers turn the rapid oscillation into one step per second, and the hands or the digits are only a display of that count. The opening covers why the crystal rings electrically, how dividers make one second, and what temperature does to the rate.
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Inside
- Why the crystal rings electrically
- How dividers make one second
- What temperature does to the rate
- Why digital is not the cause
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Piezoelectric quartz oscillators
- The 32,768 hertz watch crystal and its dividers