Hourglass 3 colors for what. Hourglass

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: « Many people are deprived of two blessings: health and free time.”. Unfortunately, people who know how to use their time are in the minority, and most of them waste time.

However, it is necessary that life requires a person to be able to monitor the passage of time, distribute it over time, respond to different life situations, speed up or slow down the pace of their activities, and use time rationally.

Allah Almighty said: “And make provisions (for the journey), and the supply is fear of God” (Sura “The Cow”, verse 197) .

The ability to sense time encourages a person to be organized, collected, helps to save time, use it more rationally, and be precise. After all, before you know it, the Day of Reckoning has already arrived... So how can we account for all the seconds of our lives if each one is wasted?

Responsibility for your time and the ability to use it correctly must be instilled in childhood. As a rule, by school age, many children already distinguish between time intervals and are able to minimally regulate them: they distinguish between seasons, days of the week, parts of the day; they know that they need to get up early and go to bed not late in order to feel good all day; They try to dress promptly so as not to be late for class.

Many additional difficulties have to be overcome by those children who have not developed temporal discrimination when they enter school. Literally from the first lessons in class, children should be able to work at the same pace and rhythm, fit within the allotted time, be able to manage their actions over time, save and plan time.

You can prepare for all these demands that the school and later his whole life will present to the child in preschool age. To do this, it is proposed to develop in children a sense of time - the ability to determine and feel certain periods of time.

This article will talk about probably the simplest means by which you can develop a child’s sense of time - this hourglass.

Tell your child that once upon a time there were no electronic or mechanical watches. To measure periods of time, people used sundials, sanddials, waterdials, and other simple instruments. Then humanity learned to make watches similar to modern ones. At first it was a huge tower clock. Then the clocks became smaller, new technologies appeared...

But some of the simple devices of previous centuries are still alive. For example, an hourglass.

You can buy a simple hourglass at a pharmacy, medical equipment stores or souvenir shops. It is not for nothing that an hourglass is an integral attribute of many business people. They can last for one, three, five, ten, fifteen or more minutes.

Hourglasses have remarkable properties. Time in them ceases to be abstract and materializes in the form of grains of sand. The volume of sand in the hourglass can shows how much time has passed and how much is left.

Show and tell your child how to use an hourglass. To begin with, invite him to watch how the sand from one half of the clock spills into the other in just one minute, then three or five minutes, etc.

Now try playing using the hourglass!

What games could these be?

You can measure everything: who can do the most squats in one minute? Who can draw the most flowers in three minutes? How many snowflakes can you cut out in five minutes?

The hourglass will provide valuable assistance in performing everyday duties (dressing, undressing, cleaning the bed, toys, etc.), which can be done in a playful way. For such games, you can put hourglasses in a row for different times.

Today, special hourglasses are sold for cleaning teeth. This three-minute clock hangs on the bathroom wall and starts when a child or adult brushes their teeth. You cannot stop brushing your teeth until the allotted time has passed.

During meals, if the child does not want to finish the allotted breakfast, you put the hourglass on the table and say: “Let's try to eat the porridge in the time it takes for the grains of sand to run from the top of the cone to the bottom twice. Let's start!.. I wonder how long it takes to eat soup? More or less?"

To avoid competition while eating, one of the conditions can be set that porridge cannot be eaten not only slower than the allotted time, but also faster. After all, this is a very important skill - meeting deadlines!

There are games and exercises that develop the ability to sense time. These are various games to determine the time period as accurately as possible. For example, you ask your child to freeze or remain silent for exactly half a minute. He himself must determine when to end the exercise. Or, on the contrary, you give a task, and upon completion, ask the child to determine how much time it took to complete it.

Invite your child to find out: will a full kettle boil in one minute, or three?.. Half a kettle? Will a full bathtub fill with water in three minutes? For five?

You can always compare how much time (how many “sand runs”) it took you and your child for different types of activities. You can even keep a special list on the wall (preferably a large one, the size of a Whatman paper) and fill it with conventional icons. Over time, determine whether there is progress or, conversely, regression is observed.

As an educational function, such watches are good to use when children do not want to share a toy with each other. You set the clock and say: “Rasul plays first, when the time on the clock runs out, Rasul lets Amina play with the toy.”

Sometimes watches are used for punishments. You give the child a “time-out” (for example, sit him on a chair so that he thinks about his behavior) for as long as the grains of sand are running in the clock. Remember that psychologists recommend arranging a time-out depending on the age of the child: a three-year-old sits on a chair for 3 minutes, a five-year-old for 5, etc.

Using an hourglass, you can limit the time you watch TV or play on the computer. You set the hourglass for 10 minutes and say: “As soon as the time runs out, you need to turn off the computer.” This perfectly instills in the child organization and the ability to be responsible for his daily routine.

If your child really wants to play with you, but you don’t have any time, then try to come to an agreement with him: “Let me work while the hours are ticking, and in the meantime you can play by yourself. Then I’ll join you.”

Hourglasses have a relaxing effect. Many people - not only adults, but also children - love to spend a long time looking at how mysterious grains of sand move from one cone to another. So you understand how quickly time flies... “Time is the most valuable thing that you would like to save, but I see that it is time that you spend most easily!” (hadith, at-Tirmidhi).

And other games and exercises.

Come up with different tasks and games depending on the age and capabilities of the child. But don't take the hourglass as a panacea and don't use it too often. Otherwise, at some point you will feel that the educational power of the hourglass associated with the effect of novelty has waned and the lesson has been learned. And the child no longer wants to change clothes or put away toys according to the hourglass. Put them away for a while, take them out a little later, when the child again wants to race against time to get dressed or find out if he can assemble a 50-piece puzzle in 10 minutes.

The hourglass is one of the most ancient inventions of mankind., but the exact date, unfortunately, is not known. However, from the data that have been preserved, we can conclude that the principle used in the hourglass was known in Asia long before the advent of our chronology. Despite the fact that in our time watch mechanisms are actively developing, hourglasses are still actively used.

Hourglass in the Middle Ages

It was the Middle Ages that made the biggest leap in the development of the history of the hourglass.. One of the oldest references to clocks comes from the 14th century, which contains advice on preparing special, fine sand for use in hourglasses.

The hourglass appeared in Europe quite late, but, despite this, they quickly came into use by almost every person, this was facilitated by their low price, ease of use, reliability, and most importantly, the ability to measure time regardless of the time of day, this distinguished them favorably from sundials.

The most common clocks had one significant drawback - it was a relatively short interval, an hour or half an hour. It was rare to see a watch that could measure 3 hours, and very few were designed for a relatively long hourglass operating time. These were huge, bulky structures that could count 12-hour intervals.

Hourglass production

The most important thing for the accuracy of the hourglass was the quality of the sand., it must be sifted through numerous sieves, thoroughly dried and annealed. Glass flasks for making watches were produced using well-known technology. A plate was inserted into the place where the flasks were joined, which was supposed to regulate the pouring speed. To hold the two flasks together, the junction between them was tightly wrapped with thread and additionally covered with resin.

The shape of the flasks and the quality of their surface were also important for the accuracy of the stroke. When the hourglass was used for a very long time, its accuracy deteriorated. This was due to the fact that the inside of the flask was gradually scratched by sand, and the fact that the sand was crushed into smaller fractions also played a big role.

Hourglass - photo

We present to you photos of various hourglass shapes.

Hourglass meaning

The hourglass is a symbol that reminds us of moderation., that time is fleeting, and there is no need for the allotted time to be shortened by excesses. The two vessels represent cyclicality, the alternation of life and death, chaos and order.

Certainly, You won’t be able to get far away from the classic hourglass shape., because two interconnected bulbs and a frame are the basis of such a watch. But you can change the very shape of the flasks and the frame supporting them to whatever you like. For example, an excellent gift in business circles is an hourglass whose flask is the company logo. There is also the opportunity to experiment with materials: colored glass, stones of various types, wood, metals (possibly even precious) can make an hourglass unique in its own way.

The world's largest hourglass is 11.9 meters high, and their cycle is 1 year, it is the greatest device for measuring time. This watch could be seen in Moscow, on Red Square in July 2008. The smallest watch, only 2.5 cm high, was created in Germany, in Hamburg; sand pours out of the top flask of this watch in just 5 seconds.

Even though hourglasses have flaws and are not the most accurate, they were used even after the invention of mechanical clocks, in the 20th century they were used in telephone exchanges and in courtrooms.

Nowadays, hourglasses play more of a decorative role., as interior design elements. This ancient invention is also used during some medical procedures.

Any watch “works” through repeating, cyclical processes. The very first clocks were probably sundials, in which the Sun itself was “harnessed,” moving every day across the sky from east to west.

Following the sundial, water dials were invented. In this watch, water flowed out of the vessel in a small stream through a small hole. The size of the vessel and the diameter of the hole through which the water flowed were selected so that the vessel was emptied within a certain time. Let's say a day. All that remained was to apply marks on the walls of the vessel by which time could be measured. Such water clocks were called the Greek word “clepsydra” and were already used in Ancient Egypt, in Mesopotamia and, of course, by the ancient Greeks.

What repetitive process was involved in the water clock? After all the water had flowed out of the vessel, it had to be refilled. If the clock was designed for a day, then water had to be poured into the water clock once a day; if for an hour, then once an hour. You can read about what a clepsydra is in the article “Who are clepsydras?”, published on 07/06/2014.

Fine sand is as fluid as water. Therefore, nothing would prevent, it seemed, by exchanging water for sand, creating an hourglass. But technically, this task turned out to be impossible for the ancient masters. Although on some ancient Greek reliefs, they say, the god of time Kronos is depicted with a bottle similar to an hourglass.

The classic hourglass is a glass tube that has a narrowing in the middle and is mounted on a stable base. A certain amount of very fine sand, consisting of uniform granules, is poured into the upper part. What on earth is so difficult about this? First of all – glass parts. Not only that, glass vessels of the required shape were not easy to make. What was worse was that the ancient craftsmen could not make clear glass. At its extreme, its transparency resembled that of bottle glass. That is, something shines through, but you can’t see what.

So hourglasses appeared in Europe quite late, and most likely they were copied from eastern originals. This is where the sand was visible and invisible! According to one version, hourglasses appeared in Europe around the 8th century. Naturally, the first users of the hourglass were monks and priests. The duration of service was monitored using an hourglass.

Almost simultaneously, the hourglass entered naval service. Without proper timing, getting lost in the open sea far from the shores is a piece of cake. The hourglass was hung on a rope and the sailor on duty was assigned to it. Once every half hour, when the “winding” of the hourglass ended, this sailor turned the bottle over and rang the bell. It was called "beating the bells"

There are several main parameters that determine the functioning of the hourglass. The volume of the wide parts determines the duration of one cycle, how long the sand will be poured from the upper half of the clock to the lower. Then the clock will have to be turned over (here it is, a cyclical process). The lower half will become the upper half, and the sand pouring process will resume.

By the way, the duration of one cycle is also affected by the diameter of the “neck”. Obviously, it cannot be smaller than the diameter of a grain of sand. Actually, this diameter should be much larger. After all, the neck should not only allow grains of sand to fall down. The displaced air should rise upward from the bottom. But too wide a diameter is also not good. The “winding” of the hourglass will decrease, and the uniformity of the “stroke” will deteriorate. The uniformity of the stroke, especially at the end of the cycle, will be influenced by the shape of the narrowing of the sand bottle into the neck. If the bottle is not flat enough, the hourglass may stop early. The remaining sand will not want to slide down. In general, calculating the correct shape of an hourglass is a good problem for mathematicians. I don't know if they solved it.

Most likely, the shapes and sizes of the hourglass parts were developed through practical experiments. It turned out that the diameter of the narrowing should not be more than half the diameter of the bottle and less than 1/12 of this diameter.

Naturally, the sand itself, enclosed in an hourglass, must be of very high quality, fine and without any foreign inclusions. To achieve this, watchmakers fired the sand, then sifted it through a fine sieve, and then thoroughly dried it. By the way, until the 18th century, hourglass bottles were made of two halves, which were connected together with a rope and filled with sealing wax or wax in order to prevent moisture from getting inside. It is clear that the damp sand was losing its fluidity. Therefore, in winter or autumn, the hourglass could stop and require “repair”, that is, drying the sand.

Hourglasses began to leave the market when mechanical watches appeared, which did not require constant supervision. However, the hourglass did not give up without a fight. German watchmakers began making designs consisting of four bells fastened together, which increased the time it took to wind an hourglass. At the same time, probably the most accurate hourglass appeared, which made it possible to measure intervals of 1 second. This is probably the maximum achieved “accuracy” of an hourglass. The hourglasses that have survived to this day measure time intervals of 1 or 3 minutes with an accuracy of 1 second. They are used in the kitchen, in medical laboratories and sometimes in courts, when the judge wants to show the person standing in front of him: “Talk to the point, don’t talk too much. Here’s three minutes for you, and not a second more.”

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) (whose name was mentioned in the article “Who is an astrophysicist and what does he do?” dated December 8, 2014) tried to make the latest improvement in the structure of the hourglass by filling its vessel with mercury. This invention did not catch on, but in souvenir shops you can now find bottles shaped like an hourglass, but containing some beautiful liquid. It is unlikely, of course, that such a clock should be called an hourglass, although out of habit they are called that. This is an indicator that the shape of the hourglass is “read” by us as a symbol of time. In previous versions of the Windows operating system, the “sandglass” icon appeared when the system was busy and could not respond to user requests.

The hourglass shape, without any connection with the measurement of time, is also used to describe one of the types of female figures: developed shoulders, wide hips, a visible narrowing at the waist. If you google the phrase “hourglass”, the images found for this query will probably contain beautiful female figures. Why? Yes because!

Hourglasses are one of the most ancient types of devices invented by people to measure time.

Despite the active development of watchmaking and the emergence of more advanced mechanisms, hourglasses are still used today.

Start

The history of the origin of the hourglass lacks specifics and reliably confirmed facts, however, based on surviving sources, it can be assumed that the principle of constructing such a device was known in Asia even before the birth of Christ. Despite the fact that bottle clocks were mentioned by Archimedes, and the first attempts to invent glass were made in Ancient Rome, during Antiquity no one was able (or perhaps did not want to try) to make an hourglass.

Middle Ages

The next milestone in the history of the hourglass was the Middle Ages. At that time, craftsmen who were working on improving water and solar grandfather clocks also took up bottle designs. Due to their low cost and ease of use, they immediately gained incredible popularity.

One of the first European hourglass models was made in Paris. A record of this dated back to 1339, and the text of the message contained instructions regarding the preparation of fine sand (for this, black marble powder, previously boiled in wine and dried in the sun, was sifted). The quality of the sand was one of the fundamental factors on which the accuracy of the watch depended: in addition to marble, grayish sand from zinc and lead dust, reddish fine-grained sifted sand, and light white sand from fried ground eggshells were used. The grain size and flowability of the sand had to be uniform.

Most often, sand was poured with the expectation that the clock would work for thirty minutes or an hour, but there were also models that worked for three and even twelve hours.

Developments in the technology of producing transparent glass were used to manufacture the case elements of hourglasses, mantelpieces and chiming wall clocks. For bottle clocks it was converted into spherical flasks.

For maximum precision, the glass had to be smooth, without defects. In the place where the neck of the vessel narrowed, a horizontal metal diaphragm was placed, the opening of which served to regulate the quantity and speed of pouring grains of sand. At the junction, the structure was tied with thick thread and fixed with resin. Unfortunately, medieval craftsmen were never able to make an hourglass that would be as accurate as a sunglass: with prolonged use, the grains of sand gradually became crushed, and the hole in the diaphragm expanded, thereby accelerating the passage of sand.

New time

With the advent of interior watches, as well as women's and men's mechanical watches, the hourglass had to be improved so that it could compete with more accurate time measuring devices. For this purpose, the production of hourglasses began in the cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, the design of which consisted of four systems of flasks in one case. At the same time, the mathematician De la Hire created an hourglass capable of measuring second intervals. Attempts to replace sand with mercury were made by astronomer Tycho Brahe. However, the last two innovations were not as significant as Stephane Farfler's invention of a spring mechanism, which ensured automatic tilting of the watch.

20th century and modern times

Even though hourglasses are not the most accurate and have some disadvantages, they continued to be used well into the 20th century. Hourglasses with an automatic tilting mechanism were used in the courtroom, as well as in telephone exchanges (to control the time of short telephone conversations).

At the present stage, antique hourglasses can serve as a decorative element, and models encrusted with diamonds are especially popular among collectors. And finally, a bottle-shaped electronic watch, on the screen of which not grains of sand, but pixels are scattered, reminds us of the history of the development of watches.

So what are they, when were they invented, how long do they measure time and where are they used in our time? I will try to answer all these questions in this article. And so first things first.

Hourglass This is an invention that allows you to count time. It consists of two flasks connected to each other. Inside they have sand, which, pouring from one flask to another, counts down a certain period of time, which depends on the size of the watch itself.

Hourglasses began to be used around the 14th century. This is evidenced by a message dated 1339, which was found in Paris. It contains instructions on how to prepare sand for watches.

Sand The accuracy of such watches depended on several factors. One of them is sand. It was made from sifted black marble powder, then boiled in wine and dried in the sun. Also from burnt fine-grained sand, which was sown through fine sieves and dried. This sand had a reddish tint. Other sand was made by carefully grinding eggshells, thereby giving it a light white color. The use of sand from zinc and lead dust was different in that it abraded the inner walls of the flask less; such sand had a gray tint.

Flasks watches were made of glass; by that time people had already learned to work with it. The two flasks were connected to each other with a thread and filled with resin in order to give hardness to the joint and prevent moisture from penetrating inside, which would impair the accuracy of the watch. Later, solid flasks began to be made.

Dignity hourglasses were considered easy to use, reliable, and inexpensive. Therefore, they were accessible to many people of that time. They were widely used in shipping to measure speed and watch duration, as well as in medicine.

Flaws Of course there were too. One of the main ones is the short period of time that they could count (mostly 30 minutes or 1 hour). To count more time, it was necessary to make a truly large clock. Also, over time, the sand particles became smaller and the flasks were worn out from the inside, which had a bad effect on accuracy.

Some inventors tried to increase the period of time by automatically overturning the clock and building several flasks into one clock. The first flask was emptied within 15 minutes, the second within 30 minutes, the third 45 minutes, the fourth within 1 hour. On top they had a dial with an arrow; when the sand from the last flask was poured down, they turned over and the arrow moved an hour forward.

Currently, they are used mainly for interior decoration and as souvenirs. Also in some cases during court hearings and in medicine, during medical procedures.

Monument, dedicated to this invention stands in Budapest (Hungary). They are 8 meters high, and the sand is completely poured into their lower part in 1 year. Japan also has big clocks. they are kept in the sand museum of the city of Nîmes.

That's probably all. If you have anything to add or disagree with something, write in the comments.