It is really a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get right up. For instance 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 each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy getting up at that time.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment I am 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 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 can be running.
Refreshed and dry once again, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer tells me that I will wear a jacket today as soon as I leave the house. And although it really 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 another numeral. My arrival at the job will likely be delayed by a short while because I have to fill the fuel tank on the way. The moment I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing that I do not check often enough. Also, while Astounded is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has taken the trouble to check on the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything regularly. In many other areas too, we can rely upon the truth 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 more with that inner eye of mine ? I could 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. EASILY had the time, I’d 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 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 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 are able to 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 planet through different eyes. Does that connect with you, too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.