Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Astronomy
Mr. Gopinath Subramanian
Group members:
TIME 1
EARLY INSTRUMENTATION 3
SUNDIAL 4
5
WATER CLOCK
6
SAND CLOCK
COMPARISON OF SUNDIAL, WATER CLOCK, 7
ACCURACY OF SUNDIAL 11
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SUNDIAL 12
1
Time
History of Time
Other ancient timekeeping devices include the candle clock, used in ancient China,
ancient Japan, England and Mesopotamia; the time stick, widely used in India and Tibet, as well as
some parts of Europe; and the hourglass, which functioned similarly to a water clock. The sundial,
another early clock, relies on shadows to provide a good estimate of the hour on a sunny day. It
is not so useful in cloudy weather or at night and requires recalibration as the seasons change.
3
Early Instrumentation
In ancient times, when humans utilize the Sun, Moon, and Stars to briefly indicate time
throughout the day, they have wondered about the pattern of time, how it works. Prehistoric
people have roughly estimate time that is they observed and recorded the moons movement in
the night sky, which they have found that a lunar cycle is the duration between two full moons,
or new moons. Furthermore, they have noticed that thirteen lunar cycles is equal to one earth
year because the seasons have repeated after completing this cycle. Equally important, there
have been another rough estimation of time which is to observe twelve different Zodiacal
constellations, because these constellations are settled along the ecliptic which makes them to
vary in each month by having at least one zodiacal constellation as a dominant constellation.
Some of the time measuring devices that are developed in these times include sundial, water
Another well known device that measures time is the sand clock in which uses sand to
measure time duration or intervals by having it to move from one bulb to another by gravity. This
type of tool was unknown until it first appeared with some records in the early middle age. Then,
it was developed and become famous in maritime use. The sand
clock is derived from the water clock which both of them works
on the same principle. The factors that affect the time interval
are sand quantity, sand coarseness, bulb size, and neck width.
However, this tool cant indicate the time of the day since it
doesnt correspond with any celestial bodies. It also doesnt
depend on any weather conditions so it can be used at anytime.
Once the upper bulb is empty, inverting the bulbs to other side
can be done to reuse the sand clock indefinitely.
7
COMPARISON OF SUNDIAL, WATER CLOCK AND SAND CLOCK
Cant tell the exact time of the day Use flow of water to measure time
Rate of flow must
not be fluctuate
Contain two bulb that link by a Have to keep track with the length
narrow channel of days due to season change
Independent from
Make use of gravity to move sand celestial bodies Water needs to flow at constant
from one bulb to another bulb rate to keep it accurate
Scissor Glue
4. Assemble them such that the gnomon is on the middle where it says,
True North.
When the earth rotates about its axis, the sun appears to move across the sky, causing objects
to cast shadows. A sundial contains a gnomon, or a thin rod, that casts a shadow onto a platform
etched with different times. The dial and markings allowing you to gauge the time. As the sun
changes relative positions over the course of a day, the rods shadows change as well, thus
reflecting the change in time. In the morning, a shadow points to the west as the sun rises in the
east, gradually getting shorter and moving towards the north. After noon, the shadow points
eastwards, steadily lengthening as the sun moves towards sunset in the west.
11
Accuracy of sundial
Up to second half of 19th century, sundial and local time were basically the same. But these day,
people create time zone system which separate by nation. Each country creates a standard time
for entire cities. Also, daylight saving time where clock reset one hour forward in summer and
back one hour in winter. While sundial times still the same which changes according from the
longitude of difference location.
12
Advantages and disadvantages of sundial
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES