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 has already been well advanced and I’m correspondingly tired. But none of this 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 into the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by way of a numeral. While I can easily adjust as soon as I am 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 in the evening to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter can be running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter another numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it really is only a short distance to the car, I am glad within 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 need to fill the fuel tank en route. Excitement 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 had the trouble to check the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it 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 rely upon the fact that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended way 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 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 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 at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Regardless of what we do, and where we might go, measurements are omnipresent. Once you start great deal of thought, the list just keeps getting longer: I 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 are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three different ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We can measure tension and compression forces and we are able to calculate angles. We are able to make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.