It is a numeral on the alarm clock that tells me when I should get right up. For instance 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 each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up in those days.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales does not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide in the evening 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 more, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I should wear a jacket today the moment I leave the house. And although Case Study 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 automobile, I am met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will be delayed by a short while because I need to fill the fuel tank en route. When Triumph reach the filling station, I’m able 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 had the trouble to check on the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? Outstanding see, it is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can rely upon the fact 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 more 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 would stand at the boundary such as 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. Regardless of what 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 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 are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We are able to measure pressure in three various ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We can 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
More info on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.