( CNN ) -- If you follow scientific developments as if they were football games , this would be a good time to cheer `` Tick-tick-tick-tick ! Tick-tick-tick-tick ! Go , clock , go ! '' The reason for such enthusiasm ? Researchers have released a study in the journal Science describing what they believe is the world 's most precise clock . You 'd never need this level of precision for getting to work on time , but the clock could be used for scientific exploration and technological advancements in areas such as navigation systems , said study co-author Andrew Ludlow , researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder , Colorado . The rate of ticking of this timepiece -- known informally ( and awkwardly ) as the ytterbium optical lattice clock -- does not change by more than one part in 10^18 , Ludlow said . In other words , if there is any variation in how a second is measured , it would be in about the 18th decimal place . `` The ytterbium optical lattice clock has demonstrated a groundbreaking , new level of clock stability , '' he said . `` One could say that this is like measuring time over a hundred years to a precision of several nanoseconds . '' In order to understand what 's so special about this table-sized clock , it helps to have a little background : . How clocks work . Inside a clock is a mechanism that changes in some regular way , called an oscillator . Imagine , for example , a grandfather clock , whose pendulum swings back and forth denoting time . In a wrist watch there is often a crystal with an electrically oscillating signal . A particular number of `` back and forths '' corresponds to one second . An atomic clock makes use of an electromagnetic signal -- in other words , light emitted at an exact , known frequency . At the core of the system , there is an atom . The light is used to excite an electron in the atom . In this model , the excitation and de-excitation of an electron corresponds to a pendulum swinging right to left , but in an atomic clock , the `` tick '' denotes an unimaginably tiny fraction of a second . The current gold standard for time is the cesium clock , a type of atomic clock that an international body of experts has used to define what is the unit of one second : About 9.19 billion oscillations . In this clock , a microwave light source is used to excite electrons in cesium atoms . But the new atomic clock at NIST , described in the Science study , uses a different element : Ytterbium , atomic number 70 . Optical light -- specifically , yellow light from a laser with a wavelength of 578 nanometers -- is used to excite the electrons of ytterbium atoms . Whereas scientists talk about billions of oscillations per second in the cesium clock , oscillations per second in the ytterbium clock approach one quadrillion per second , Ludlow said . The new clock is akin to a ruler that has markers for fractions of inches , compared to a ruler that only delineates inches . The first instrument would make more precise measurements . `` You divide time into finer and finer intervals , '' Ludlow said . In order to establish the precision of this clock , the scientists had to make two of them , to confirm agreement in the measurement of time . The devices wo n't fit on your wrist , or even on your wall . Because of all the laser equipment and technology necessary for this level of precision , the atomic clock and all of its components occupy a space about the size of a dining room table , Ludlow said . Efforts are under way to shrink the technology , however , particularly so that a version of it might be sent into space . Potential uses . Researchers studying Einstein 's theory of general relativity could make use of this clock to more precisely measure how time is different depending on the surrounding gravitational force . Global positioning systems ( GPS ) already take this into account . Because they are farther from Earth than we are , and therefore experience less gravitational pull , their measurement of time as they orbit Earth is slightly different from what we perceive on the ground . A more precise atomic clock could measure the correctional factors even better . Such clocks could also test alternative theories about the relationship between time and gravity . There could be other applications for navigation and communications systems . But you probably wo n't want one for your alarm clock . Ludlow said the total cost ranges on the order of a half-million dollars . Accuracy . Although scientists have proclaimed that this is the world 's most stable clock , they do not yet know as much about its accuracy . This is a subtle but important difference : The ytterbium clock has demonstrated incredible stability of measurement -- it always measures a second in the same way -- but we do not yet know if what it is measuring is a `` true '' second . So , we 'll have to wait to find out whether these clocks could be the most accurate in the world . More research is needed . It 's a story we hear time and time again . Follow Elizabeth Landau on Twitter and Google+ .
New study describes atomic clock with unprecedented precision . Clock is made with atoms of the element ytterbium . Device is at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado . Efforts are under way to make the technology small enough to send into space .