It is really a numeral on the noisy alarms 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 that is of any help, and because each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy getting up at that time.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as 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 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 another numeral. The thermometer tells me that I will wear a jacket today when I leave the house. And although it is just a short distance to the car, I am glad in 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 short while because I need to fill the fuel tank on the way. As soon as I reach the filling station, I’m in a position to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something that I 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 the fuel pump utilizing 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 on a regular basis. In many other 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 undoubtedly 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 stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the company and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are in work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Whatever we do, and where we might 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 here 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 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. Certain who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.