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In the past, a common time measuring instrument was the sundial. Today, the usual measuring instruments for time are clocks and watches. For highly accurate measurement of time an atomic clock is used. Stopwatches are also used to measure time in some sports.
A nephoscope is a 19th-century instrument for measuring the altitude, direction, and velocity of clouds, using transit-time measurement. This is different from a nephometer, which is an instrument used in measuring the amount of cloudiness.
Horology is commonly used specifically with reference to the mechanical instruments created to keep time: clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic clocks are all examples of instruments used to measure time.
Ascent rate times ascent time yields the ceiling height. A disdrometer is an instrument used to measure the drop size distribution and velocity of falling hydrometeors. Rain gauges are used to measure the precipitation which falls at any point on the Earth's landmass.
Instruments come in three main varieties: short period, long period and broadband. The short and long period measure velocity and are very sensitive, however they 'clip' the signal or go off-scale for ground motion that is strong enough to be felt by people. A 24-bit analog-to-digital conversion channel is commonplace.
The idea of using atomic transitions to measure time was first suggested by the British scientist Lord Kelvin in 1879, [204] although it was only in the 1930s with the development of magnetic resonance that there was a practical method for measuring time in this way. [205] A prototype ammonia maser device was built in 1948 at NIST. Although ...
Travel time instruments determine water velocity by at least two acoustic signals, one up stream and one down stream. By precisely measuring the time to travel from the emitter to the receiver, in both directions, the average water speed can be determined between the two points.
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος gŷros, "round" and σκοπέω skopéō, "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. [1] [2] It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation (spin axis) is free to assume any orientation by itself.