Sunny is really a numeral on the alarm clock that tells me when I should get up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. Achieve is already well advanced and I’m 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 into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While I can easily adjust as soon as I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem easy 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 the next numeral. The thermometer tells me that I will wear a jacket today the moment I leave the house. And although it really is only a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that little bit of advice. Once I reach the car, 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 on the way. As soon as 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 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 the fuel pump utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it really is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything frequently. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended way to work takes me past a large 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 undoubtedly 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 would stand at the boundary like a small boy and simply stare at all of it.
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. No matter what we do, and where we may 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 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 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 world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.