How are hourglasses so accurate/How do they work?

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I know that it’s possible to buy hourglasses that run out after a set amount of time, like 30 mins/an hour/2 hours etc., and even water-drippers that measure every 30 minutes. How do they do that?

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15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re not actually that accurate, hour glasses vary quite a bit across different hour glasses of the same “time” and even within the same hour glass on different uses.

But if you’re using an hour glass you don’t need that good of accuracy. Does it really matter if your 1 hour hour glass runs for 60 minutes and 15 seconds vs 59 minutes and 48 seconds? Not really.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re not actually that accurate, hour glasses vary quite a bit across different hour glasses of the same “time” and even within the same hour glass on different uses.

But if you’re using an hour glass you don’t need that good of accuracy. Does it really matter if your 1 hour hour glass runs for 60 minutes and 15 seconds vs 59 minutes and 48 seconds? Not really.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One way is to calibrate every hourglass individually during their production. Create the hourglass structure, but leave one reservoir open. Put in enough sand/water, then let them dip into the closed reservoir for exactly 30minutes. Remove the excess sand/water from the open reservoir, then close it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One way is to calibrate every hourglass individually during their production. Create the hourglass structure, but leave one reservoir open. Put in enough sand/water, then let them dip into the closed reservoir for exactly 30minutes. Remove the excess sand/water from the open reservoir, then close it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One way is to calibrate every hourglass individually during their production. Create the hourglass structure, but leave one reservoir open. Put in enough sand/water, then let them dip into the closed reservoir for exactly 30minutes. Remove the excess sand/water from the open reservoir, then close it.