It is really a numeral on the noisy alarms 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’m correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every 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 into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I’m awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales will 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 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 as soon as I leave the house. And although it really is just 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’m met by another numeral. My arrival at work is going to be delayed by a short while because I need to fill the fuel tank en route. When Faux Pas reach the filling station, I am able to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something 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. You will want to? You see, it is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything frequently. In many the areas too, we can depend upon the fact 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. If I had the time, I’d stand at the boundary such as a small boy and simply stare at everything.
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. Whatever 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 are able to 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 are able to 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.