The clock is ... A brief history of watches and their varieties

The clock is an invariable attribute of modern life. To imagine without them our world is simply impossible. Think, what would happen if all the clocks broke down at once or stopped? The sheer chaos. However, how did it all start? When they appeared, what kinds exist? We will talk about this. This topic is very extensive, and we will consider only the most basic.

Ancient times

The meaning of the word "clock", consistent with the dictionary, is as follows: a device for measuring time within a day. Agree, a very good definition, because if the days can be counted at sunsets and sunrises, how to recognize the periods more accurately? It was this that did not bother our ancestors in antiquity, and they came up with different devices for determining and measuring time. The very first were the water clock. This device was a vessel from which liquid gradually flowed. The first mention of them is found, beginning with 157 BC. E. In ancient Rome. Later they were slightly modified, and a float with marks was added to them.

The hourglasses were also widely spread - they are familiar to everyone, and they are used to this day, but only as a piece of furniture, entourage and a funny trinket.

Also widely used was a sundial. This device was a divided circle with a rod in the center, the solar shadow of which indicated the time. They invented them approximately in 1306-1290. BC. E. There are many of their varieties, but they all operate according to the principle described above - the change of the shadow due to the rotation of the Earth relative to the Sun.

A little later, in 725 AD, the first mechanical watches were made in China.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, sand, water and other exotic time -measuring devices replaced the pendulum and weights. These were large and bulky devices that not everyone could afford to keep at home, but in every major city they were installed in town halls and towers. For example, the first hours of this kind were located in the princely court of the Moscow Kremlin at the beginning of the XV century.

The newest time

In the mid-1800s, pocket mechanical watches became very popular. These were the first devices of this kind that could be carried around and always know the exact time, and for a long time they were a status object. Then they were replaced by wristwatches - quartz and electronic. And the most reliable and accurate are atomic, in which time is determined by the half-life of radioactive elements. They are used on space satellites, in the military and scientific fields.