It is a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get right up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week is already well advanced and I’m correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy getting up in those days.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I can easily adjust the moment I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales does 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 see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once again, Introducing encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today as soon as I go out. And although it is only a short distance to the car, I am glad within my own private measuring station for that little bit of advice. Once I reach the car, I’m met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will be delayed by a short while because I need to fill the fuel tank on the way. As soon as I reach the filling station, I am able to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something 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 really is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the point that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended way to work takes me past a big 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 such as a small boy and simply 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. No matter what we do, and where we may go, measurements are omnipresent. Once you start thinking about it, 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 are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three various ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We can 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 planet through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.