HISTORY OF MEASUREMENT

The earliest recorded systems of weights and measures originate in the 3 rd or 4th
millennium BC. Even the very earliest civilizations needed measurement for purposes of
agriculture, construction, and trade. Early standard units might only have applied to a
single community or small region, with every area developing its own standards for
lengths, areas, volumes and masses. Often such systems were closely tied to one field
of use, so that volume measures used, for example, for dry grains were unrelated to those
for liquids, with neither bearing any particular relationship to units of length used for
measuring cloth or land. With development of manufacturing technologies, and the
growing importance of trade between communities and ultimately across the Earth,
standardized weights and measures became critical. Starting in the 18th century,
modernized, simplified and uniform systems of weights and measures were developed,
with the fundamental units defined by ever more precise methods in the science of
metrology. The discovery and application of electricity was one factor motivating the
development of standardized internationally applicable units.

Minutes and seconds in the 14th – 16th century

Distinguishing the 24 hours in a solar cycle alone was no longer satisfactory as the 14th
century continued to progress. Soon people desired a more precise measurement of
time. Dials were designed to meet this desire. Once dials were applied to the face of
clocks in the 14th century, people were able to distinguish minutes. During the Middle
Ages, scales were developed as tools of scientific measurement based on the number
60. Going beyond that, in Medieval Latin, there was an even smaller unit of
measurement: 1/16th known as pars minuta prima (first very small part). There was also
a further sixtieth of that measurement called second pars minute secunda(very small
part). Thus the concept of the second was born.

1643-1646 – Barometer

The useful tool that we know as the barometer came about entirely by accident. The
assistant to Galileo, Evangelista Torricelli, was interested in discovering why it was so
difficult to extract water from a well in which the water lay deep below the ground. For
testing purposes, Torricelli filled a glass tube with mercury. He then immersed the tube
in a bath of mercury and raised the sealed end to a vertical tilt. What he found next was
astounding. He discovered that the mercury slipped down into the tube. He figured that
the weight of air in the mercury bath supported the weight of mercury in the tube. He
reasoned that the space in the tube above the mercury must be a vacuum.

1714 – 1742 – Mercury Thermometer

During the 1700s the traditional thermometer, known as the Florentine thermometer,
had been in use for more than half a century. The German instrument maker and glass
blower Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit was interested in improving the Florentine
Thermometer’s design. With the original design, the Florentine thermometer depended
on the expansion and contraction of alcohol within a tube (likely glass). As temperatures
rise, the alcohol expanded rapidly. However, the speed was not entirely constant. This
translated into inaccurate readings.
1714 – 1766 – Chronometer

Humanity has been sailing on the open seas for the past two centuries. For some
countries, their entire economy relies upon trade by sea. Of course, we can’t disregard
the navigation of military seaborne vessels. It has become imperative that ship captains
know how to navigate the open seas by calculating their position with an accurate tool.
The astrolabe, an astronomical instrument was used to make measurements which
allowed its user to navigate by calculating latitude. The issue with the astrolabe was that
it was difficult to calculate longitude because the earth revolved. In 1714, the British
attempted to rectify this issue by setting up a “Board of Longitude” and offered a
£20,000 prize to anyone who could invent an instrument that could keep accurate time
at sea.

Things that commonly used for measuring:

Length

If there were any measurement that has proven to

be the most useful to humanity, it would be length.
Examples of length include the inch, the foot, the
yard, and the mile. Knowing how to measure length
was quite useful for surveying land for property right
purposes. Knowing the length of the land gave the
precise units needed to price accordingly.

Weight

Weight isn’t quite as simple to measure as length is.

Human ingenuity has overcome the complexities of
this particular measurement. It turns out that wheat,
grains of wheat to be more exact, have a
standardized size. Essentially, weight can be
measured regarding grains of wheat. This is a
method that is still used by jewelers. Just as it is
done with length, lumps of metal can be kept in a
public building that represents the standard weight
of a given amount of grain.

Volume

Among all of the units of measurement, volume is the

most useful to those who deal with money such as
merchants and tax collectors. Though calculating
volume is the most helpful to those in the professions
mentioned above, it is also one of the most difficult to
measure. Attempts have been made to provide
standard estimations of measurement such as
crafting same sized pots, baskets, and sacks.
Time

Time can be considered an abstract measurement. You can’t

see it, and it can only be perceived through specialized
means (such as a sundial). In today’s world, the concept of
time dictates when we eat, when we sleep, when we work,
and even certain activities such as personal relations with a
loved one. For many centuries, time has been thought of in
imprecise term.

Sundial

As mentioned before the easiest way to track time is

to record the movement of the sun across the sky.
This is most easily done by measuring the shadow
cast by a vertical stick. This tool is called the
sundial. Sundials make it possible to make
elaborate calculations. Early examples of the
sundial can be tracked to Egypt around 800 BC.

Water Clock

Known as the clepsydra to the Greeks, the water clock

attempts to measure time by tracking the amount of
water that drips into a basin or tank. The water clocks
greatest flaw is that it relies on water as its tool for
measurement. For accurate time telling, water has to
be stable, which implies that the water has to be in a
controlled environment. Experiments have shown that
water can never be 100% stable. These cultures
include 1400 BC Egypt, Rome, Arab, Greece, China,
and Europe (16th century). Despite its use, the water
clock was more regarded as a toy than a reliable tool

to tell time.

Hourglass

The hourglass uses the same principle as the water

clock, but instead of water, it utilizes sand. The
hourglass has been around for much longer than the
water clock. One notable use of the hourglass was
by the 18th-century pulpits in Britain (to measure the
length of sermons).