Ticking through time: The journey of clocks
What do you do when you need to know the time? Look at your wristwatch or open your phone, right? Timekeeping is now simple, thanks to advancements in technology. But clocks were not so simple back in the ancient times. Do you know that the records of the first clock date back to 3500 BC, in Ancient Egypt? And these clocks were unlike the ones that we use today. They used shadow and water to tell time. Since then, time telling has taken various forms, including sundials, mechanical clocks, pendulum clocks, atomic clocks and the modern digital ones. Keep reading to discover how these engineering marvels have shaped our world, one second at a time!
The early invention of clocks
Ancient Egyptians created the first shadow clocks or Sundials around 3,500 BC. These clocks used the position of the shadow cast by the sun to indicate the time. By 250 BC, the Greeks had invented the Clepsydra, a water clock that provided a more accurate method of measuring time. Rising waters would keep time and eventually strike a mechanical bird, which would sound an alarm. This inspired the vintage shelf clocks that announce the hours with a cuckoo call! Clepsydra was more practical because it could be used indoors, at night and on cloudy days. It was, however, not as precise as sundials. Around 325 BC, Greek water clocks were improved to include a face with an hour hand for more precise timekeeping. And these water clocks were used until nearly 3,000 years later when mechanical clocks were introduced.
Mechanical clocks, pendulum clocks and the rise of pocket watches!
The first rendition of mechanical clocks made its grand debut in the 14th century. These early timekeepers used heavy weights to drive the clock’s hand and balance wheels to convey time with precision. These devices stood tall in towers and kept time within just a 2-hour deviation daily. This means, an inaccuracy of two hours every day. With time, the mechanical clock proved to be a reliable companion, until the pendulum clock came along.
In 1581, the Italian physicist Galileo Galilei showed that a pendulum could keep clocks accurate. Taking a page from his theory, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch mathematician, developed the first pendulum clock in 1656. By combining pendulum and spring technology, clocks evolved from tower-dwellers to pocket-sized companions! With this, the trend of pocket watches bloomed in the 17th century. And until the 20th century, the pendulum clocks maintained their title as one of the most accurate clocks.
Modern time tellers
The credit for inventing modern clocks goes to Sir Sanford Fleming, a Scottish–Canadian engineer who invented the standard time in 1878. Standard time is the process of synchronising clocks across a geographical area to a single time standard. Based on this concept, the Canadian telecommunications engineer Warren Marrison created the first quartz clock in 1927. This precise timepiece functioned with the help of regular vibrations of a quartz crystal in an electrical circuit. During the same period, Marrison also founded The Warren Clock Company and created a battery-powered clock. And as we all know, this invention is still in use today!
Atomic clocks
The most significant milestone in the timeline of clocks is the invention of atomic clocks! The atomic clock, developed in 1990, is a highly accurate method of measuring time. It never makes an error! Our household clocks, you see, use ‘mechanical time,’ which means they measure time by counting the number of ticks or swings of a pendulum. Atomic time, however, uses ‘atomic vibrations’ to measure time. Atomic vibrations are tiny little shakes that occur within atoms, which are literally the building blocks of everything in the universe! Because these vibrations occur at an extremely constant rate, scientists can use them to keep time. That is why atomic clocks are so precise! They clocks can keep time to a billionth of a second, which is far superior to any mechanical clock. Because atomic time is constant, it assists us in keeping all of our clocks, computers and GPS systems in sync. That is why we can tell the correct time from anywhere on the planet.