Does temperature affect timekeeping?

[Music]

I use a timer application that does some precision timekeeping over several days, and I have been watching how it stays in sync with The Official NIST US Time Widget - HTML5 for cross-platform devices to see how good it really is.

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday) it was 5.0 seconds off the standard, and today (Friday) it's 0.0 seconds off. I keep the battery above 75% when doing precision timing, and I think only the temperature has changed significantly in the last 24 or so hours, being inside my winter jacket with me when running around town with company.

The battery application usually says it's at about 22C, and now it's at about 26C, so I wonder if the higher temperature has the clock running faster? Maybe I should leave it in the freezer for a day?

 

[leeshor]

I can only assume that the time is maintained in a tablet relatively the same way as in a computer. I don't see any way the temperature of the tab could affect the time. The time can fluctuate that much in a desktop computer too and because of the various environments I see systems in I don't think the temp would have any real effect.

 

[Music]

It's just weird.

My $10 Timex quartz-controlled wristwatch can keep perfect time until the battery goes dead, but a $900 desktop PC or a $250 tablet can't? I can only assume that since the battery is jammed in the tablet case with all the other stuff (the CPU and its circuit board, GPU, wiring, the touchSCREEN, etc.) that it ought to be able to share some warmth with the CPU, or the other way around.

BTW- the temperature reported by the battery application is that of the battery, not the CPU.