Eli5: mechanically speaking. How does an atomic clock work and where do they store the atoms to use it

Question

I saw a YouTube short about atomic clocks and no where I look do they explain how the scientist store atoms to use for the clock. This topic fascinates me and I’m just curious

In: 4

Answer 1

The ELI5 is that specific molecules vibrate in consistent and measurable ways. We’ve defined “1 second” as “the time it takes for cesium-133 to vibrate 9,192,631,770 times”, so an atomic clock is a device that measures that.