FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about A Long History in Measuring Time
Quiz about A Long History in Measuring Time

A Long History in Measuring Time Quiz


Measuring time has evolved from an art to a science. Let us explore the different methods used over history in the measurement of something we all take for granted - time.

A multiple-choice quiz by LeoDaVinci. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Science Trivia
  6. »
  7. Miscellaneous Science
  8. »
  9. Time and Distance Measurements

Author
LeoDaVinci
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
313,220
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
2277
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Robert907 (6/10), Guest 100 (7/10), matthewpokemon (6/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Our ancient ancestors had a very vague grasp of time as we know it today. "Meet me at the buffalo watering hole when the sun is highest" would be a common way to set up an appointment. "When the sun is highest" means that there is the least amount of shadow. What is it called, however, when the sun is perfectly 90 degrees overhead, and there are no shadows cast by vertical objects? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. A good way of measuring time is waiting for a bin to fill up. An example of this is the hourglass, which waits for sand to fill up in a glass "bin". Another example is the clepsydra. What did it use as its "bin filler"? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. All this talk of telling time made me glance up at the wall to check my clock. The word 'clock' has Latin origins. What does it mean? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. A pendulum clock uses the fact that no matter how large the arc of the pendulum, it will always complete one sweep back and forth in the same amount of time. Which Italian was responsible for this discovery? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The Romans divided the year into twelve months, and the calendar we use today is based on it. However, there are some calendars whose months are based on the revolution of the Moon around the Earth. Which is not one of them? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. With the decimal system, everything is divided into tens. However, minutes are 1/60 of an hour, and seconds are 1/60 of a minute. To which ancient civilization do we owe this division? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. It is not well known that Frenchman Louis Cartier designed the first wristwatch in 1904. However, wristwatches only became more popular than pocketwatches after World War I.


Question 8 of 10
8. Many modern timepieces use a certain crystal which, when shaped correctly, emits a frequency that can be accurately calculated. This creates a very accurate timepiece. Which crystal is used? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Similar to the title of the quiz, in 1988 British physicist Stephen Hawking Published "A Brief History of Time". In it, he tries to explain to you and me that time is not an absolute measurement. Which, according to special relativity, is the only fundamental unit in the universe? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. A second had to be standardized so that physicists around the world would have the same unit when measuring it. It's not enough to be 1/60 of a minute or 1/3600 of an hour, or even 1/86400 of a day. A second is now measured by the spins of which of the following atoms? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Mar 17 2024 : Robert907: 6/10
Mar 10 2024 : Guest 100: 7/10
Mar 10 2024 : matthewpokemon: 6/10
Feb 17 2024 : Guest 8: 3/10
Feb 16 2024 : Guest 97: 7/10
Feb 16 2024 : Guest 81: 0/10
Feb 14 2024 : scottm: 6/10
Jan 31 2024 : Quizaddict1: 8/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Our ancient ancestors had a very vague grasp of time as we know it today. "Meet me at the buffalo watering hole when the sun is highest" would be a common way to set up an appointment. "When the sun is highest" means that there is the least amount of shadow. What is it called, however, when the sun is perfectly 90 degrees overhead, and there are no shadows cast by vertical objects?

Answer: Zenith

A zenith occurs when the sun is directly above and objects will cast virtually no shadow. This can occur between the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn due to the tilt of the Earth's rotation. Traditionally, the zenith will occur at noon at the Tropics on the solstice which coincides with the beginning of summer in the Tropic's respective hemisphere.
2. A good way of measuring time is waiting for a bin to fill up. An example of this is the hourglass, which waits for sand to fill up in a glass "bin". Another example is the clepsydra. What did it use as its "bin filler"?

Answer: water

Literally, clepsydra in Greek means "water stealer". They are older even than hourglasses, as they are mentioned in ancient Chinese scrolls dating back to 4000 BC. They were widespread in use, and were considered very accurate and versatile time measuring devices.

Modern clepsydras are not found in abundance as technology has advanced. Nevertheless, they are a novelty, and often utilize several technologies rolled into one design. A great example of this is the Hornsby Water Clock in a mall in Hornsby, Australia, which uses the principles of a clepsydra, a water-wheel clock, and a pendulum clock in one artistic design.
3. All this talk of telling time made me glance up at the wall to check my clock. The word 'clock' has Latin origins. What does it mean?

Answer: Bell

The word 'clock' comes from the Latin word 'clocca' which means bell. Most people believe this is in reference to the bells in the churches that would be rung every hour, and the clock would be made to ring as well for the individual owner. This is why many horologists believe in the division between clocks and their silent counterparts - the timepieces.
4. A pendulum clock uses the fact that no matter how large the arc of the pendulum, it will always complete one sweep back and forth in the same amount of time. Which Italian was responsible for this discovery?

Answer: Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist who is commonly known as the champion of the Copernican heliocentric galaxy (the sun being at the centre of the galaxy, and not, as it was believed at the time, the Earth). However, he made other significant statements in his treatises that were outlawed by the church, one of them being that the time it takes for a pendulum to swing back and forth is constant. Though this is not entirely true (it works only for small angles), this is the basis behind the pendulum clock.
5. The Romans divided the year into twelve months, and the calendar we use today is based on it. However, there are some calendars whose months are based on the revolution of the Moon around the Earth. Which is not one of them?

Answer: Bahá'í calendar

The Bahá'í calendar is a tropical solar calendar. The Islamic, Hebrew and Chinese calendars base their months on the revolution of the Moon and adjust accordingly for the extra or missing days. The Hebrew calendar and our Gregorian calendar, for example, coincide once every 19 years. Many solar calendars come from tropical countries close to the equator.
6. With the decimal system, everything is divided into tens. However, minutes are 1/60 of an hour, and seconds are 1/60 of a minute. To which ancient civilization do we owe this division?

Answer: Babylonian

The Babylonians had a sexagesimal numbering system. This means everything was divided into sixty parts rather than the ten we are used to today. On one hand, this makes it easy to factor more numbers as sixty has twelve factors, but, on the other hand, we only have ten fingers to count on... I mean, on both hands.
7. It is not well known that Frenchman Louis Cartier designed the first wristwatch in 1904. However, wristwatches only became more popular than pocketwatches after World War I.

Answer: True

The wristwatch was originally considered a woman's accessory. The aristocracy continued to use pocketwatches, and the common man tried to emulate them. However, with the outbreak of the war in Europe, soldiers found it more practical to wear a wristwatch to tell time rather than a pocketwatch. By 1930, the ratio of wristwatches to pocketwatches had risen to 50:1, effectively making the pocketwatch obsolete.

Technology has advanced so that wristwatches are able to withstand pressure (and thus be taken underwater), wind themselves and not need a battery, use LCD digital displays, and all sorts of other innovations in the field of horology. Nowadays, the large majority of people you see wear a wristwatch, even if they're always late.
8. Many modern timepieces use a certain crystal which, when shaped correctly, emits a frequency that can be accurately calculated. This creates a very accurate timepiece. Which crystal is used?

Answer: quartz

Quartz crystals have electric properties when a physical stress is applied to them. In watches, the crystal is shaped into a sort-of tuning fork and emit a frequency of 32,768 Hz. These oscillations are counted and then a second is recorded by the timepiece.

This gives a very accurate way of measuring time, and the Swiss standard allows a timepiece of this sort to be off by only ten seconds a year.
9. Similar to the title of the quiz, in 1988 British physicist Stephen Hawking Published "A Brief History of Time". In it, he tries to explain to you and me that time is not an absolute measurement. Which, according to special relativity, is the only fundamental unit in the universe?

Answer: the speed of light

Einstein postulated that the quantity that remains constant in any reference frame is the speed of light. In a vacuum, this has been measured as approximately 300 million metres per second. This broke with the Newtonian mechanics which stated that time was absolute and everything else fell into place relative to that. Einstein showed that the time slows down the faster you go, and once one reaches the speed of light, everything takes an infinitely long time to do.
10. A second had to be standardized so that physicists around the world would have the same unit when measuring it. It's not enough to be 1/60 of a minute or 1/3600 of an hour, or even 1/86400 of a day. A second is now measured by the spins of which of the following atoms?

Answer: Cesium

Cesium 133 is now the standard by which a second is measured. 9,192,631,770 spins, if one wants to be precise. Of course, this needs to be measured at absolute zero and with no external forces like a magnetic field or gravity.

Scientists came to the conclusion that the Earth's rotation is slowing down, and the definition for a second would not be the same depending on what year it was measured in. Certainly, this means that our clocks are not as accurate as they once were, and there is a need to insert "leap seconds" into our life, otherwise the world may stop spinning entirely and some terrible catastrophe may occur.
Source: Author LeoDaVinci

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series It's About Time:

There are 20 quizzes, one from each Fun Trivia category. Each quiz has the word "time" or a word connected to time in its title.

  1. Night Time is the Right Time Easier
  2. Time for T Average
  3. Life and Times of Gwyneth Paltrow Average
  4. Guess the Old-Time Radio Show Average
  5. Telling Time on the Clock Very Easy
  6. No, No, a Thousand Times, No! Average
  7. Around the World in Eight Minutes Very Easy
  8. Times Like These Average
  9. Fifteen Minutes of Fun Easier
  10. It Was the Best of Mythological Times Average
  11. Once Upon A Time, There Was A... Easier
  12. Journey through Time in the Movies Average

3/19/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us