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 is already 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 love getting up at that time.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment 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 see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once again, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today as soon as I leave the house. And although Amazing 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 am met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will likely 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’m 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 had the trouble to check on the fuel pump utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? Magnificent see, it is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything regularly. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended way 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 getting 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 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 great deal of thought, 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 can 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 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 connect with you, too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.