It is a numeral on the alarm clock that informs 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 that is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up at that time.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by way of a numeral. While I can easily adjust the moment I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem easy 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 visit 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 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 within my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will likely be delayed by a few minutes 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, 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 taken the trouble to check the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. You will want to? You see, it is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many the areas too, we can depend upon the fact that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended solution 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 be monitored, and angles are getting measured. When approaching Corpse of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. If I had the time, I’d stand at the boundary like 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 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 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 are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We are able to 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 are able to 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.