It is a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I am correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every 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 into the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I’m awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem easy 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 another numeral. The thermometer tells me that I should wear a jacket today as soon as I leave the house. And although it is just a short distance to the car, I am glad within my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I’m met by another numeral. My arrival at work is going to be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. As soon as I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, the one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing 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 the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. You will want to? You see, it is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the fact that everything is getting 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 ? pressure gauge octa can see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will undoubtedly be monitored, and angles are getting measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY had the time, I’d stand at the boundary just like a small boy and simply stare at all of it.
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. Whatever we do, and where we might go, measurements are omnipresent. As soon as 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 are able to build scales with load cells, and we can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We are able to measure pressure in three different ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we are able to 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 are available on the WIKA website.