# Why do my clocks lose time?  Bad electricity?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978 "2003-10-12T12:06:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![olefin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@olefin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978/41 "2003-10-18T14:27:20Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by a1997xf11 \*  
> \*\* My computer however gains about 30 seconds a day on its system time. \*\*

My new Dell computer gained time, I tried several updates and other things…

Then I found this simple little program that background synchronization keeps your PC in sync with U.S. government-maintained atomic clocks at intervals you specify and automatically resets the computer clock. (XP does the same thing but it never worked in mine)

Since I installed [Rockettime](http://www.rocketsoftware.com/portfolio/rockettime/) (free version) my computer is acturate to the second… all the time!

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978/42 "2003-10-18T15:29:31Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by swansont \*  
> \*\*As I understand it, they “settle” - have a “star quake” - and the frequency changes in an unpredictable way, which is a bad thing for clocks. \*\*

Yes, those are the glitches talked about on the page I linked to. The change in frequency is only about 1 part in 10[sup]11[/sup], typically, and also these glitches occur only rarely, it seems. Apparently they’ve never been observed in high-rate pulsars, either.

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**Author:** ![swansont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@swansont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swansont)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978/43 "2003-10-18T15:46:45Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \*  
> \*\*Yes, those are the glitches talked about on the page I linked to. The change in frequency is only about 1 part in 10[sup]11[/sup], typically, and also these glitches occur only rarely, it seems. Apparently they’ve never been observed in high-rate pulsars, either. \*\*

And 10[sup]-11[/sup] is a big shift for a good clock.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978/44 "2003-10-18T15:49:42Z")

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Beats my digital watches by a wide margin. Besides if you want to avoid the glitches, use young, high-rate pulsars. There’s no shortage of them.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-clocks-lose-time-bad-electricity/206978/45 "2003-10-18T15:53:01Z")

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And that’s a difference of only .022 seconds over the lifetime of the average human.

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