The hourglass is a device that was born in the 8th century to measure time.
The device that makes it possible to measure time , segmenting it into different units, is known as a clock . Sand , for its part, is the name given to the accumulation of particles from rocks and gathered on the shore of a river or an ocean.
An hourglass is an instrument that uses sand to allow time measurement . These clocks measure specific periods of time that begin when the sand located in the upper blister begins to fall into the lower blister due to the force of gravity and that end when all of the sand has passed into this second blister.
Origin of the hourglass
In the 8th century it seems that it was when the idea and reality of the hourglass first appeared in Europe, since it is believed that it was a monk named Liutprand who presented it for use in the Cathedral of Chartres, in France.
However, it would not be until the 14th century when it became popular and it was already common to use it in many different areas. A good example of this is that it is represented in various paintings from that time, as would be the case of the painting “Allegory of Good Government” (1338) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
The force of gravity supports the operation of an hourglass.
Device operation
The operation of the hourglass is very simple. It is a transparent glass or plastic instrument, with two ampoules or bulbs of identical size that communicate through a small hole in the center of the device. Inside, a sufficient amount of sand is placed to fill half or a little more of the capacity of an ampoule. Due to the action of gravity , the sand always accumulates in the blister at the bottom: when someone takes the watch and turns it over, the lower blister becomes the upper one and the sand begins to fall through the hole, passing to the blister that now remained below.
The hourglass, in this way, measures a fixed period of time (what it takes for the sand to pass from one vial to the other). This period can be equivalent to one minute, for example. If what you want is to measure the exact time that passes between two events or know the time, the hourglass is useless.
The hourglass in history and today
For a long time, the hourglass became a fundamental piece in numerous ships, because it helped them carry out with great precision what were measurements that sailors had to undertake such as the distance to the west or east as well as even the length. In this way, they chose to use the aforementioned instrument instead of others that they had been using until that moment and that were much less precise. We are referring, for example, to the hourglass.
Thus, for example, it is known that during Diego Magellan's trip around the world, all the ships that participated in the expedition had several hourglasses to carry out absolute control of time.
Currently, as can be imagined with the advancement of science and the creation of much more modern and functional proposals, hourglasses have ceased to be used except, basically, in some board games.