How does a computer keep time so precisely?
Crystal Heartbeat
How does a computer keep time so precisely?
Your computer knows it's 3:47 and 23 seconds. Not 3:47 and 22 seconds, not 3:47 and 24 seconds — exactly 23. How does it keep time so precisely when there's no ticking clock inside?
Hidden on your computer's circuit board is a small silver can about the size of a grain of rice. Inside that can sits a tiny crystal made of quartz — the same mineral that makes up sand and sparkly rocks. This crystal is your computer's secret timekeeper.
