As an ancient timekeeping instrument, how did the sundial measure time?

It must be said that the wisdom of ancient people is much stronger than that of modern people in some aspects, such as the four great inventions, the construction of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and many things are not perfectly answered by current technology. I don't know how much you know about sundials. It has been invented for more than 6,000 years, and its history in China is as long as 3,000 years, which shows its long history.

Although it is convenient for everyone to look at the time, solar terms and months now, just look down at the mobile phone or turn over the calendar. But this thing was very troublesome in ancient times, but the appearance of sundial just helped people solve these problems. The sundial also has the disadvantage that it can't be used in rainy days and at night.

The sundial was popular in history for thousands of years, and it was not replaced by the bid until the end of13rd century, while China began to use clocks and watches in17th century, and the real popularity of clocks and watches in China was during the Republic of China. In the Qing dynasty, clocks and watches were a rarity, and all the people who could use them were princes and nobles. Ordinary families can only engage in agricultural activities according to past experience. Obviously, as far as clocks and watches are concerned, China has lagged behind western countries for hundreds of years. So, how does a sundial work? Bian Xiao will tell you about this today.

As we all know, the earth revolves and rotates. In this case, the shadow has been changing with the change of time. The first change is the length of the shadow. The shadow is the longest in the morning, and then it will gradually become shorter. At noon, the shadows will get longer. Secondly, the direction of the shadow will change, which is related to the rise and fall of the sun, and the direction of the shadow is just the opposite. It's morning in the west.

According to reliable sources, the length and direction of the shadow can be used to time, but obviously, it will be very troublesome to use the length of the shadow to time, and no one wants to be experimented in the sun all day, so the working principle of the sundial is calculated according to the position of the shadow. As time goes on, the orientation of the shadow will gradually change. At this time, the change of the shadow is like the pointer on the clock, and the dial is the dial of the clock.

On this basic person, the ancients also studied heavenly stems and earthly branches, and in this way, recorded the years. Ok, today's topic is over. Welcome to comment below.