It is a numeral on the noisy alarms that tells me when I should get up. For Jeopardy , 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 enjoy getting up in those days.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales does 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 visit a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter another numeral. The thermometer informs me that I should wear a jacket today as soon as I leave the house. And although it is only 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 am met by the next numeral. My arrival at the job will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I need to fill the fuel tank en route. The moment I reach the filling station, I am able to check another numeral, 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. Why not? You see, it really is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything frequently. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the fact that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended solution to work takes me past a big 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 getting measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY had the time, I would stand at the boundary just 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 in work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Regardless of what we do, and where we may 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 at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We can 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 are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. Surprise can make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the planet through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.