It is really a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get right up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I am 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 at that time.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I am awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales does not seem an easy task 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 see 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 when I leave the house. And although it is only a short distance to the car, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by another numeral. My arrival at work will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. The moment I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, the 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 on the fuel pump utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. You will want to? You see, it is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything regularly. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything is getting measured accurately.
Diagnosed 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’d stand at the boundary such as a small boy and 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 might go, measurements are omnipresent. As soon as you start great deal of thought, 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 can build scales with load cells, and we can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can 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. We are able to 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
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.