Ambi was always confused with this: What exactly is the duration of one second of time?
The Ajanta Quartz clock on the wall sparked this doubt.
It was Ambi's father who bought that clock. The first clock at home. Neighbor's small timepiece used to power the concept of time to at least two households till this clock arrived. Most of Ambi's friends at school could not tell time from a clock, because they had none.
The second hand of the clock moved from one marking on the dial to the next, stayed there for some time, then moved to the next. There are two kinds of markings on the dial: 12 big and 60 small.
Is one second the time the second hand takes to move from one small marking to the next?
Or is it the time the second hand stays at one marking?
Ambi recently found an answer: Neither.
Look at the short and fat hour hand and ask it:"How long is an hour?"
It would say:"An hour is the time I take to move from one big marking to the next big marking."
If this applies to all other hands as well, then one second must be the time the second hand takes to move from one small marking to the next.
Then why on earth is it staying at each marking?
One second is the time of one movement plus one stay. The logic of hour hand does not apply to second hand. An ideal second hand would travel uniformly and continuously. With no stay and with same speed throughout.
But we never produced an ideal second hand. That is because, humans are incapable of producing uniform continuous movement.
I would laugh at it. We, the most advanced, incapable of such a simple thing. How can I type my laugh!
The Ajanta Quartz clock on the wall sparked this doubt.
It was Ambi's father who bought that clock. The first clock at home. Neighbor's small timepiece used to power the concept of time to at least two households till this clock arrived. Most of Ambi's friends at school could not tell time from a clock, because they had none.
The second hand of the clock moved from one marking on the dial to the next, stayed there for some time, then moved to the next. There are two kinds of markings on the dial: 12 big and 60 small.
Is one second the time the second hand takes to move from one small marking to the next?
Or is it the time the second hand stays at one marking?
Ambi recently found an answer: Neither.
Look at the short and fat hour hand and ask it:"How long is an hour?"
It would say:"An hour is the time I take to move from one big marking to the next big marking."
If this applies to all other hands as well, then one second must be the time the second hand takes to move from one small marking to the next.
Then why on earth is it staying at each marking?
One second is the time of one movement plus one stay. The logic of hour hand does not apply to second hand. An ideal second hand would travel uniformly and continuously. With no stay and with same speed throughout.
But we never produced an ideal second hand. That is because, humans are incapable of producing uniform continuous movement.
I would laugh at it. We, the most advanced, incapable of such a simple thing. How can I type my laugh!