Section V
Quartz
Resonance without gears.
Quartz replaced mechanical resonance with a vibrating crystal and made accuracy cheap. The frequency comes from how the sliver is cut, which is also where its own temperature problem lives — and the trade that had sold accuracy had to find something else to sell.
3 entries
Each one a mechanism and the error it defeats- 01
The crystal
A quartz sliver vibrates at a frequency set by how it is cut, and it is far more stable than anything mechanical.
- 02
What quartz cost the trade
Accuracy became cheap almost overnight, and an entire industry had to argue for itself on other grounds.
- 03
Temperature again
Quartz has its own thermal curve, which is why the cut angle matters so much.
Other sections