Good detail, Sabianq.
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Originally Posted by stitt29
Hi
You know how Atomic clocks in orbit have to be reset because bending spacetime or something. What is actually happening? Do the clocks go slower (or faster) in a weaker gravitational field?
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A weaker gravitational field causes them to go faster, but their orbital velocity causes them to go slower.
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Also if there is a time difference( say between a clock on Earth and one in orbit) if we were to physically move the clocks so they met in the same gravitational field i.e. the surface of the Earth would the clocks right themselves and become synchronous?
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No. For the GPS system the various computers keep track of the ongoing cumulative error, and that error is taken into account during all calculations. Last time I checked, it was about 29 seconds, total, since they launched the fleet nearly two decades ago.