How a quartz watch works – its heart beats 32,768 times a second

How a quartz watch works – its heart beats 32,768 times a second

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Quartz watches have a tiny crystal tuning fork inside that vibrates at 2^15 Hz and there’s a really clever reason for that. This video also talks a bit about how mechanical watches work.

CORRECTION: Ok, so I actually hung 16 flip flops! So you do need 15. I’m an idiot.

The atomic clock video is here: https://youtu.be/l8CI3bs9rvY

The piezoelectricity video is here: https://youtu.be/wcJXA8IqYl8

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45 Comments

  1. Chaotic Crypto on October 24, 2021 at 9:01 am

    this helped … it looked like pendulum balls swinging…



  2. RetroGamerzzz on October 24, 2021 at 9:02 am

    I wonder why whenever and whatever I watch about clocks, watches etc in internet, My clock’s on wall "tic tac tic tac" perfectly matches with those in videos.



  3. Tim Alj on October 24, 2021 at 9:02 am

    wow, you are 1000x better than my physics professor. thanks for sharing!



  4. Steve Mould on October 24, 2021 at 9:02 am

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  5. Angelique Salgado on October 24, 2021 at 9:04 am

    This gave me an idea to build a clock in Minecraft with some redstone gates



  6. Maple Leaf on October 24, 2021 at 9:05 am

    I always make the off by one error when guessing how many days from let’s say the 16th till the 30th of the month.



  7. Darryl Giors on October 24, 2021 at 9:07 am

    As he realizes he could have picked up just 7 pairs of identical flip flops from Target.



  8. Jason Arencibia on October 24, 2021 at 9:09 am

    And now we can all have an atomic clock!!!
    https://youtu.be/JK3eTGkX6qY



  9. Alex Cronnon on October 24, 2021 at 9:09 am

    What if we used quartz to be an energy source on a massive scale. Can it be amplified to induce such a level of electron generation to power homes or other things?



  10. Leon Mailfert on October 24, 2021 at 9:12 am

    use the shwartz



  11. Knee Snap on October 24, 2021 at 9:12 am

    32,768. Damn that’s such a specific / lucky number.



  12. Alexander Stohr on October 24, 2021 at 9:14 am

    flip flops – ho ho ho !



  13. Joe Gee on October 24, 2021 at 9:15 am

    I looked at the accuracy and decided that quartz watches were hugely superior to mechanical, until the battery dies…



  14. rustusandroid on October 24, 2021 at 9:16 am

    Never heard it called a ‘flip flop’ but, ok. I guess it’s a regional thing???



  15. Alpha Anderson on October 24, 2021 at 9:16 am

    Your flip flop got me, thanks for explaining ! Lol



  16. Vygis P. on October 24, 2021 at 9:16 am

    good explanation ! respect



  17. Chomp Normski on October 24, 2021 at 9:17 am

    I got into watch repair because I discovered the old accutron watch



  18. JsBaldo on October 24, 2021 at 9:19 am

    4:50 Well That was oddly sexual..



  19. Swapnil B. Bagul on October 24, 2021 at 9:19 am

    Nice. Amazing video!



  20. Daniel Plumley on October 24, 2021 at 9:22 am

    Makes you wonder, can dogs and cats hear battery powered watches?



  21. skaryzgik on October 24, 2021 at 9:22 am

    How do they tune the pitchforks so precisely? You mentioned they put gold on and shave bits off til it’s right, but how do they know, with that level of precision, when it’s "right"?



  22. John Hero on October 24, 2021 at 9:24 am

    Its nothing my smart watch does 1000000000 hz per second .. basically 1 ghz



  23. Mansour Yaacoubi on October 24, 2021 at 9:25 am

    12:16 just explaining how binary works



  24. tosl scrubber on October 24, 2021 at 9:26 am

    You’re looking over there because your friend has a really big display calculator that you are reading from. LOL



  25. David Manske on October 24, 2021 at 9:27 am

    Very well explained. Thank you



  26. The Interfaith Shepherd on October 24, 2021 at 9:30 am

    Fantastic explanation!! Thank you!



  27. 3263927 contra on October 24, 2021 at 9:32 am

    amazing! thank you



  28. EPOC 16 on October 24, 2021 at 9:34 am

    Watching the flip-flops count up reminds me of binary or I suppose counting by Binary.



  29. Lexican Man on October 24, 2021 at 9:36 am

    Please normalise the audio in your vids ☺️



  30. Gerard Dummett on October 24, 2021 at 9:41 am

    Is a broken flip flop also correct twice a day?



  31. spidunno on October 24, 2021 at 9:46 am

    those flip flops count up in binary



  32. Daniel Schilling on October 24, 2021 at 9:48 am

    How much did he spend on flip flops for that joke?



  33. Momo Sadfi on October 24, 2021 at 9:48 am

    How can the eigenfrequency of a quartz tuning fork be shifted ?



  34. Chaotic Crypto on October 24, 2021 at 9:50 am

    now make a funky logic gate pyramid



  35. Chaotic Crypto on October 24, 2021 at 9:52 am

    ahhh i get why its a one off error now…. clever



  36. Venkat Babu on October 24, 2021 at 9:53 am

    Low pressure to high pressure. Why crystals oscillate. Two lattice shrink. Opposite lines.



  37. Devil's Logic on October 24, 2021 at 9:54 am

    where do they buy that small flip-flops to fit into a clock?



  38. erikjonromnes on October 24, 2021 at 9:58 am

    I actually thought they ran on 4 quartz of milk. Edit… and why does Nord sound like a private part?



  39. skaryzgik on October 24, 2021 at 9:58 am

    9:16 minecraft redstoners have entered the chat



  40. Stefan on October 24, 2021 at 9:58 am

    The of by one flip-flop is just to relatable xD



  41. Ryuga R on October 24, 2021 at 9:58 am

    well you did need 15 flip flops….there was no mistake in that … but you had taken 16 of them so you got an extra one



  42. Citi23n on October 24, 2021 at 9:59 am

    Do you think a quartz watch can lose a second or two a day because of a bit flip? a bit flip flop?



  43. you tube on October 24, 2021 at 9:59 am

    .
    Am i the only commenter who counts 16 flip-flops, not the stated 15 or 14? 😛 either way this video was a good time, it really resonates with me.
    .



  44. The Apple man aka Collin Matthews on October 24, 2021 at 10:00 am

    I have two casio g-shock watches that are slow and loose about two minutes over a period of two n half months. Not counterfeit.



  45. IAmAgainst on October 24, 2021 at 10:01 am

    But watches display tenths of a second, which are in base 10 system.