Origin Of Clocks And Their Timeless Importance

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Without the clock, we would never be able to tell the time. We would always be too late to head back home before the tide starts rising. All clocks in the olden days would ring a bell at a certain fixed hour to let people know the time. For this reason the name clock was borrowed from a Greek word. The word meant the chiming of a bell.

Human civilization has improved so much that we base everything around us on time. Which other civilization says that time is money really? We therefore naturally have to be surrounded by clocks to be able to tell the time all the time.

The simplest clock of all was invented many millenniums ago. It is the sun dial. The sun dial would rely on the sun to let us know the time. The light from the sun hitting the sun dial would cast a shadow. According to the length of this shadow we could have a rough idea what time it was.

Quick behind the heels of the sun dial was the water clock. No one is actually sure from which civilization the water clock came from but many believe that it was the Romans. The advantage that the water clock had over the sun dial was that it could work even when the sun goes down.

The pendulum was then invented and it stayed the most accurate clock for a very long time. Most of the people now call it the grandfather clock. I do not know why though. Is it because it is an old concept among clocks? It comes from the 17th century from Europe.

There then came the discovery of electricity. This gave us better ways to run the cogs in our clocks. The electric motor was built into the clocks and the clock would run for days losing even less minutes than the pendulum. They are still to be found in a lot of places we visit today.

Another cool invention in clocks came with the digital age. The digital clock like almost everything else digital has no moving parts inside it. All is quite and smooth in a digital clock. Just the digits on the clocks face change to show the time. There are no cogs inside these digital clocks. It is pretty amazing. In fact, they even tell you the temperature and much more.

We were also introduced to the alarm clocks. The earlier ones would unwind a spring which at the end of its coil would pull out a pin. This would allow a hammer to start rapidly striking a bell to alert you of the time.

Another genius idea was the auditory clock. This would just tell you the time and you would hear it even if you were in the dark. It comes in very handy to helping those who are poor sighted or blind. Most people prefer to call an auditory clock the talking clock.

The doomsday clock is a clock face that is moved by the world's board of scientists. They asses the threats to humanity and these are what affect the time that the clock reads. Should the clock reach midnight then the human race would be on the brink of extinction. Currently the doomsday clock reads five minutes to twelve since 2007.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Annie Deakin is a journalist, fashion and furniture expert and editor at mydeco.com and is currently very impressed by the great range of home decor, kids beds and tv stands.

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