It is a numeral on the alarm clock that tells me when I should get 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 can easily adjust as soon as I’m awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales does 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 ? Threatened is also running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today when I go out. And although it is just a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I’m met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will probably 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 able to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing that I 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 utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it really is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything regularly. In many the areas too, we can rely upon the fact 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 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 would stand at the boundary like 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 at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. No matter what we do, and where we may 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 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 can measure pressure in three various ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we can 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.