Designing, Making and Testing a Sundial

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Designing, Making and Testing a Sundial

Introduction:

The sundial is the oldest know device for measuring time. The first

confirmed uses of it where by the Babylonians in around 2000BC.

However it is safe to say that shadows have been used as a rough

measure of time ever since primitive man discovered that as the day

progresses the shadows of trees and rocks get shorter and then longer

again.

The sundials used by the Babylonians were hollow half spheres, set

with edges flat and with a small bead at the centre. As the day wore

on the shadow of the bead followed a circular arc, which is divided

into 12 "temporary hours" (they changed through the seasons).

A modern sundial consists of a plane (dial face) and the gnomon

(style). The dial face is divided into hours and the gnomon is the

flat piece of metal, or stick in the dials centre, it points towards

the North Pole (in the northern hemisphere) or South Pole (in the

southern hemisphere). The gnomon must tilt at the angle of the

latitude at the location.

Although a sundial seems like a simple device for measuring time, it

is not. One cannot simply look at the shadow and find the time.

Firstly the sundial will show local time, not GMT. Secondly we must

allow for the 'equation of time.' Because the Earth's orbit is not

circular, its velocity changes at the perihelion. To allow for this

would be awkward, so we use a 'mean sun.' The equation only rises as

high as 16 minutes. It is the same every year, and on 4 dates it

becomes 0.

A minus sign indicates that the clock is ahead of the sun, a plus that

it is behind the sun.

Clock time = (sundial time) - (equation of time)

For example: Sundial time = 10:00am

===================================

Date= January 9th

Equation of time= -7

Clock time = (sundial time) - (equation of time)

= 10:00 - (-7)

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