What if you need to keep track of the time, but there is no clock, no timer or stopwatch at hand? The situation is not hopeless. Methods of measuring time without the help of devices can come to the rescue.
Instructions
Step 1
Any way to measure a period of time is based on comparing it with some standard. In an hourglass, the standard is the time during which all the sand is poured from one cone to another. In aquatic plants, water serves the same purpose. The pendulum clock got its name from the fact that the standard of time there is the period of oscillation of the pendulum, which, as is known from the laws of physics, is constant. Finally, in atomic clocks, the standard is the vibrations of the states of an excited atom.
Step 2
In the absence of mathematically accurate standards, the only way to keep track of time is to create your own time standard. Usually, this is an action that the average person performs at an average speed for some predetermined time.
Step 3
For example, there is a simple way to define time intervals within twenty seconds. It is based on the fact that the average person who has no problems with diction is able to quickly pronounce the word "Mississippi" in almost exactly one second. Thus, in order to measure the time, you need to count in your mind, after each count, quickly say the key word: "One - Mississippi - two - Mississippi - three - Mississippi …".
To make your score more accurate, you can practice ahead of time by adjusting your speed with a stopwatch or metronome.
Step 4
For longer periods of time, it is more logical to use longer references. For example, in the Middle Ages in Eastern Europe, the popular unit for measuring time was "pache", or "paternoster" - the time required to read aloud and clearly the Christian prayer "Our Father". In Latin it begins with the words Pater noster, and in Polish the first word of this prayer is paciez; hence the name. One pache was equal to about 25 seconds, two pache - a minute.
Step 5
A song, the length of which you know, can serve as a good standard of time. For example, many music contests limit the length of participating songs to two or three minutes. If you don't have a watch at hand, but there is a recording of such a song, you can use it to count the time in two to three minute intervals.
Step 6
Young mothers often measure the time with lullabies, which they perform on their own. It is enough to measure once with the help of a clock how many minutes it took to sing a lullaby from beginning to end - and the standard of time is ready.
