What is Sundial?

A sundial is the ancient form of a clock used by humankind. The simplest sundial is a stick stuck in the ground, casts a shadow indicating the time.

If you asked time to a stone age human, they can differentiate time in two entities: Day and Night. Obviously they cant tell you what`s the exact digit of time because they don't have numeric sense or perhaps clock was not invented. However, it is clear that the sun rose and sets over the horizon. It's a fact that the shadow, the sun made its way across the sky has not escaped the attention of primitive man. The morning shadows were long, gradually decreased to disappear at lunchtime, then spread again in the opposite direction, behind the sun.Thus,shadow is a natural instrument for measuring time.

Using the shadow sun cast on the objects of earth, first clock was made in human history. No one can be sure that when the sundial was found, but we know that already in 3500 BC; The Egyptians built sundials not only maintained telling time, but it pointed time during the longest and shortest day of the year.

Sundials are usually with a circular disk used as face of a clock, On this disk, the lines use to curve down to represent the hours. There are also special sundial that can track the tides, the seasons and earthquake. In a sundial, obelisk is a gnome stands in the middle of clock disk that acts by casting shadow to mark time. In the northern hemisphere as the sun moves across the sky, this shadow moves clockwise. At lunch time, the shadow disappears which indicated noon or 12 hrs in our normal clock.

To compensate for the tilt of the earth on its axis,sundials are tilted to the north. Otherwise, the sundial will not compensate for slightly different way from the sun in the sky takes each day as the Earth moves through the seasons. Sundials are inclined to the north,called styles. These sundials are more acquarate because of its orientation is similar to the tilt of the earth, the hours remain the same all year round.

In English we use the word "hour" to tell time. This word can trace back its origin with the invention of sundial in Egyptian and Greek history. The word Hour comes from Greek or latin word Hor. The word Hor comes from Egyptian God Horus who was the God of Dawn.

In modern world, technology have gone so far to measure the time: mechanical clock, digital clock, atomic cock etc. But sundials still remains the most accurate time measurement, even after the invention of those clocks. People still use sundials to reset the times of clock invented by modern technology. However, with the invention of  Rolex!!!, sundial finds its place in gardens of modern society.

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