Technische beschrijving Magnetic hourglass
"Times change and we change with them." From the dawn of mankind, time has exerted an immense fascination. This force, to which all things must inevitably bow sooner or later, determines every moment of our lives and cannot be tamed or tricked. Although many films, books and series deal with time travel, from a scientific point of view there is little chance of success in following in the footsteps of Doctor Who and co. To give our everyday lives a bit of structure, we have divided time into seconds, minutes and hours.
In addition to sundials, water clocks and other archaic measuring methods, the hourglass in particular became established from the 14th century onwards as a practical alternative to the wheel clocks that emerged around the same time. The simple principle of operation - two interconnected glass bulbs in which fine particles flow through a constriction - ensures that this type of clock is still used in many places in the modern age: When brushing your teeth as a child, in the kitchen or as a cool gadget on your desk.
Our Magnetic Hourglass falls into the latter category, giving this timeless (badum-tss...) technology a fascinating new twist by using iron filings and a magnet in the base of the clock. Simply pick up the glass bulb in the air, turn it over and place it on the magnet in the wooden base. The fine iron filings fall through the opening for one minute and form fascinating patterns on the base of the hourglass. As soon as you remove the glass body from the base, the filings lose their magnetic charge again. The possible applications are almost endless: you can measure how long it takes your computer to open the browser, you can keep track of the perfect time to brew your tea, etc.
As the hourglass is made of glass, we would like to point out once again that it is not advisable to handle it with a sledgehammer or to be careless with it in general. There is also a risk that after some time in the vicinity of the hourglass you will start to talk ONLY IN CAPITAL LETTERS...;)
