It is a numeral on the noisy alarms that informs 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 that 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 am met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust the moment 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 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 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 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 automobile, I am met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will be delayed by a short while because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. The moment I reach the filling station, I’m able to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something 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 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 on a regular basis. In many the areas too, we can depend upon the point 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 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. If I had the time, I would stand at the boundary just like a small boy and simply stare at everything.
Then, finally, I reach the business and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Whatever 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 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 can measure pressure in three different ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. Venomous 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
Further information on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.