It's About Time

It's About Time

Knowing What Time It Is Do you know what time it is? If you do, you probably are looking at a clock or watch.

Using the Sun Long ago, people didn't have clocks or watches like you do. When the sun rose, they got up, and when the sun went down, they went to bed. They told time by the position of the sun in the sky.

People discovered that they could use a stick and the sun to tell time. This was called a shadow clock. They put a stick in the ground, pointing straight up. The direction of the stick's shadow and how long or short it was told them the time.

A better kind of shadow clock was called a sundial. Sundials had a pointer and a base. The pointer cast a shadow on marks around the base. People could tell time by reading the marks. But shadow clocks were not good for telling time on cloudy days-or at night.

Using Fire and Water One kind of clock that didn't need the sun was a water clock. A water clock was a container with a tiny hole in the bottom. Water would steadily drip out of the hole. Marks on the inside of the container showed the time. It took one hour for the water to go down one mark.