It is a numeral on the alarm clock that informs me when I should get 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 every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up in those days.
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 can easily adjust the moment I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales does not seem an easy task 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 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 the moment I go out. 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 car, I am met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I need to fill the fuel tank en route. As soon as I reach the filling station, I am able 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 had the trouble to check on the fuel pump using 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 the areas too, we can rely upon the point 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 again with that inner eye of mine ? I could see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will be monitored, and angles are receiving measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY had the time, I’d stand at the boundary such as a small boy and stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the company and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are in work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Regardless of 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 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 can measure tension and compression forces and we are able to calculate angles. Edge 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.