Time Through the Ages

By chemenway
  • 4000 BCE

    Looking at the position of the sun

    When the sun appeared the 'light part' of the day started and the it disappeared the 'dark part' started.
  • 3000 BCE

    Shadow Casting

    Egyptians told time by shadow casting. Shadows were cast by the sun on an unmoving object. Used an obelisk, vertical structure with four sides as a shadow clock.
  • 701 BCE

    Hourglass

    Telling time which was not dependent on the sun.
  • 600 BCE

    Water Clocks

    Early Greeks and Egyptians used the flow of water to measure time.
  • 200 BCE

    Sundial

    Babylonian used a sundial, with a 12 hour face/dial.
  • 1300

    Mechanical Clocks

    Used physics principles of weights and balances to mark increments of time over 12 hours.
  • 1400

    Watches

    Told time through a system of coiled springs

  • Pendulum

    Added to a mechanical clock increased the accuracy of the clock.

  • Digital clocks

    powered with batteries and a quartz crystal instead of coils and springs.