It is really a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get right up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I’m correspondingly tired. But none of that is of any help, and because each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up at that time.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide at night to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I visit a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer tells me that I should wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it is just a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that little bit of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will probably be delayed by a short while because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. When I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, the one that indicates my tyre pressures. Sizzles that I really do not check often enough. Also, while my fuel tank is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has taken the trouble to check on the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything regularly. In many the areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended solution to work takes me past a large building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with the cranes ? once again with that inner eye of mine ? I can see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will be monitored, and angles are receiving measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. If I had the time, I’d stand at the boundary just like a small boy and stare at everything.
Then, finally, I reach the business and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Regardless of what we do, and where we may go, measurements are omnipresent. Once you start great deal of thought, the list just keeps getting longer: I start to see the world in numerals because we at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We can build scales with load cells, and we can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three different ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. We can make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that connect with you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.