The core of a quartz clock is a quartz crystal. The working principle of a quartz crystal involves using the inverse piezoelectric effect to generate an electric field that causes the crystal to vibrate, resulting in a mechanical reaction. Because the electric field strength generated by a quartz crystal is very small, only a weak external electric field is needed to cause it to deform. This characteristic makes the mechanical performance of a quartz clock more stable.
Quartz crystals also have a particularly remarkable property: when positive and negative currents are simultaneously applied to both sides, the side with the negative current will bend into a U-shape. If positive and negative currents are alternately applied to both sides of the quartz crystal at regular intervals, the crystal will oscillate, and the clock will be timed based on this oscillation frequency.
