How do quartz watches keep time? Steve Mould gives a great demonstration explaining how they work. Quartz is piezoelectric, which means when it is deformed it generates an electrical signal. A quartz watch has a tiny quartz tuning fork that's been calibrated to vibrate at 215 cycles per second. This signal is fed through a series of 14 flip-flop circuits, each of which divides the frequency of the signal by 2. By the time the signal goes through the 14th flip-flop, the frequency is one cycle per second.
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9:18 am Fri
May 24, 2019
How a quartz watch works
What would happen if you dodged the draft in the United States?
In 1951 the United States government passed a law requiring all men between the ages of 18 to 26 to register for the draft. During the Korean War (1950-1953) 80,000 men attempted to dodge the draft. During the Vietnam War (1955 – 1975) over 570,000 men dodged the draft, 210,000 of them were formally accused, […]
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Video: a simple guide to electronic components
I enjoyed watching this video by a fellow, who goes by the name of Big Clive, which explains what basic electronic components (resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors) do and how they do it. Image: YouTube
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How the alt-right is like an abusive relationship
If you haven’t watched Ian Danskin’s Alt-Right Playbook explainer video series, I highly recommend them. Ian recently posted a video of a talk he gave called ” How the alt-right is like an abusive relationship.”
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This percussion massaging device is on sale for less than $100
Cheap massage chairs are a common Christmas gift, but we’re willing to bet they don’t get a lot of actual use from the people who could really use a massage. We’re talking about people with deep, chronic joint pain or anyone who does a serious workout on a regular basis. For that kind of soreness, […]
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Take your cereal on the road with this innovative combo cup
The bummers of adulthood are too many to count, but one of our least favorites is the inability to sit down and enjoy a nice bowl of cereal. When you’ve got a long commute ahead, let’s face it: That extra time it takes to pour the milk and chow down is too precious to spare. […]
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Daily Harvest is healthy eating for the on-the-go lifestyle
Who are these people that have time for a job, social life, and actual healthy meals? With a nutrition segment on seemingly every talk show and entire networks devoted to food, it can sometimes seem like we’ve never left our mother’s house and her constant admonitions to “eat your vegetables!” And okay, she was right. […]
