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 each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy 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 a numeral. While I can 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. Worst 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 can be running.
Refreshed and dry once again, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer tells me that I should wear a jacket today when I go out. And although it really is just a short distance to the automobile, I am glad within 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 the job is going to be delayed by a short while because I need 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. A thing that I 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. You will want to? You see, it really is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended solution to work takes me past a large building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with the cranes ? once more 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. 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. 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 here 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 are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we are able to 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
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.g