Clock
£2.40
A Birthday Card featuring an alarm clock. Above it are the words ‘Happy Birthday’ and on its face there is written ‘Time To Party!’
– Blank inside for your own message
– Printed in the UK on premium card stock
– Supplied with a white envelope
In stock
Description
Clock
Clock is a Birthday Card featuring an alarm clock. Above it are the words ‘Happy Birthday’ and on its face there is written ‘Time To Party!’
Alarm clocks remind us when we have to leave to get to the airport for a flight. Those are the happy times when even though we have to drag ourselves out of bed, it is a holiday that beckons.
But alarm clocks more often remind us that we have to go to work. So to see a clock that tells us it is our birthday and it is time to party is to tell us that we can forget work, at least for a while.
The Earliest Timepieces
The earliest timepieces were sundials with the hours of daylight divided into twelve equal parts. Of course the length of daylight changes with the seasons. Therefore the length of one twelfth part varied with the seasons.
Nowadays we know that the alteration in the angle of the Earth relative to the sun causes the change in the seasons. But in those early days how would one know that the length of time varied throughout the year. That is, how would one know other than by having a clock that measure equal intervals of time irrespective of the season?
Well in the grossest way one could simply see that daylight was shorter in winter. But by how much was it shorter?
The next development in clocks was to burn a candle marked with equal intervals. Other devices dripped water into a container until it spilled over. Whatever the method, the idea was to measure an interval distinct from observations of daylight.
The word clock itself comes from the Latin word clogga, meaning a bell. The idea was that each time the candle burned a certain amount or the vessel filled with water, a bell would ring to signify the time passed.
Coordinating Time
The next stage was to coordinate time between different places within a community, and within a kingdom. As long as places were within line of sight they could coordinate one place from another. But portable timepieces were needed once longer distances needed to be coordinated.
And the driver for this was always transport and communication. If I wanted to catch the 12 noon train I have to know when that time is. And I have to be coordinated with the time at the place the train started its journey.
The Atomic Clock
Of course nowadays we have to measure time to milliseconds. And for that we need clocks that are not only independent of place but independent of the motion of the planets. That is because the planets movements are changing in their velocity. And when one gets to those very small increments of time, those changes are enough to upset the coordination. That is what inspired the search for the atomic clocks we have today.
SKU: C0065