Every video I see on some introduction to time-keeping history says things changed when quartz was discovered. I remember commercials for watches actually bragging in marketing campaigns about quartz time-keeping or whatever it is called. I don’t know what about quartz (is it an element) made it so important for keeping accurate time.
Also, I wasn’t sure what flair to put this under. I can add another if someone has a better suggestion.
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Prior to the discovery of the peizo-electric properties of quartz, any timepiece required very complex gears, and relied on a spring to provide the power to the mechanism (sometimes a weight).
As the spring unwound it would provide less power, and therefore not be as accurate.
It quartz it is peizo-electric, meaning it creates a small electrical charge when struck. What this *also* means is that if you give it a slight electrical charge it will vibrate. It vibrates at a fairly regular interval provided you keep giving it power. This vibration can be used as a measurement of time. Not only does this allow more accurate time keeping, but is a far simpler and cheaper design
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