Telling Time

Humans have used different objects to tell time. In the

beginning, they used an hourglass. This is a cylindrical glass
with a narrow center which allows sand to flow from its upper
to its lower portion. Once all the sand has trickled to the lower
portion, one knows that an hour has passed. Using the same
idea, water clocks were constructed to measure time by having
water flow through a narrow passage from one container to
another. On the other hand, sundials allowed people to
estimate an hour by looking at the position of the shadow cast
by the sun on a plate. At night, people measured time by
checking the alignment of the stars in the sky. None of these
were accurate, though. The clock was the first accurate
instrument for telling time.