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A time standard that does not require calibration against another time standard. (188) Note 1: Examples of primary time, (i.e., frequency standards) are cesium standards and hydrogen masers. Note 2: The international second is based on the microwave frequency (9,192,631,770 Hz) associated with the atomic resonance of the hyperfine ground-state levels of the cesium-133 atom in a magnetically neutral environment. Realizable cesium frequency standards use a strong electromagnet to deliberately introduce a magnetic field which overwhelms that of the Earth. The presence of this strong magnetic field introduces a slight, but known, increase in the atomic resonance frequency. However, very small variations in the calibration of the electric current in the electromagnet introduce minuscule frequency variations among different cesium oscillators.