Has anyone ever built a formaldehyde clock operating in a way similar to that in which an ammonia clock operates?

The reason I ask is that formaldehyde has a spectral line @ 'only' 4·8㎓ , whereas the line exploited by ammonia clocks is @ 23·8㎓ ... & the gap between those lines prettymuch straddles the gap between relatively 'ordinary' electronics & electronics that requires very specialised components. That might not matter terribly much, thesedays, as the electronics that can handle tens of ㎓ is readily available (eg in phones!) ... but I would've thought that the significantly lower frequency of the formaldehyde line would have been a significant incentive whereby folk would be inclined to build formaldehyde clocks in earlier times , a fairfew decades ago, whence for formaldehyde clocks @least to be a historically significant thing ... but I haven't found anything about formaldehyde clocks, whereas there is actually quite a lot about ammonia clocks.

Posted Jul 29, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

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