What time is it now? What time is it now?

Lead: ancient timing is expressed in hours, while modern timing is calculated in hours. In ancient times, there were molecular time, Yin Shi time, Yin Shi time and noon time. So, do you know when it is? What does this mean?

What time is it now?

According to ancient records, the concept of twelve months a year has existed since the Western Zhou Dynasty. So at that time, comparing a day to twelve years old, there was a time method of twelve o'clock a day, and the demarcation point of the date was set at midnight.

The twelve hours used to record time are Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai in turn.

Zi Shi refers to the first hour of the day, from eleven o'clock in the evening to one o'clock in the morning, and ugly time refers to one o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the morning, and then it can be calculated in this order.

There were no watches in ancient times, so what tools were used to time? There are mainly sundials, hourglasses and loopholes.

The sundial is a shadow cast on it by the movement of the sun. The sundial is marked, but it can't be used on cloudy or rainy days, which has great limitations.

The hourglass is an improved version of the leak, because it is easy to freeze in winter if water is used, and it is a very delicate timing device.

The ancients had many tricks to look at time.

sun

For former farmers, watching the sun is the most direct way to see the time. Work at sunrise and rest at sunset. Look up at the sun and you will know the approximate time. This is also the working law of modern people. Every day when the sun rises, it is time to get up and work. It was already noon when the sun reached the center of the sky. When the sun reaches the horizon, it's time to rest.

The disadvantage is that looking at the sun is always a rough time tool, but it is not accurate, so it is necessary to invent a more accurate time tool.

solar corona

A sundial is a tool to measure time by the length of a shadow. The general method is to use the shadow cast by the sun to know the time, that is, to carve a graduated disk with stones, carve different times on it, and insert a wooden stick in the middle. The shadow of the sun on the stick indicates time.

When the corona appears, it is much more accurate than looking directly at the sun.

sundial

The standard gauge uses the length of the sun's shadow to judge the specific time. This is what we call "vertical polar shadow measurement". The method is to put a pole on the ground and measure its shadow length at noon to determine the direction, time and solar terms.

If the ancients only had the above methods, many people would have a question: "Observing the sun can really know the approximate time, but if it is night or cloudy, how do the ancients look at the time!" In fact, the ancients were still wise.

water clock

It consists of more than two copper pots, which are placed on a step or shelf with a small hole in the middle so as to drip into the next pot at the bottom. There is a vertical arrow in the kettle, and the arrow is divided into 100 points. The arrow rises slowly with the water storage, showing the scale, and that is the time.

Copper clepsydra

The hourglass is an instrument for calculating time according to the principle that quicksand leaks from one container to the next. The appearance of hourglass breaks away from the shortcoming of dripping water and belongs to a mechanical clock structure. Because there is no limitation of water pressure, hourglass can tell the time more accurately than missing carving.

A large number of lamps leak

1276, Guo Shoujing created the big leaky lamp in Yuan Dynasty. The big leaky lamp is driven by water. According to the gear system and rather complicated cam mechanism, the puppet is finally driven to ring for a while, engrave drums twice, cymbals three times and cymbals four times, and automatically tell the time.

A large number of lamps leak

After reading the wisdom of the ancients, we can say that the times are developing and the society is progressing. From the development of timer, it has gone through the process from rough to accurate, from simple to complex! It embodies the wisdom of the ancients and their yearning for a better life!