Re: measuring time

Tim May wrote:

>  > Did you already use other things for units of time to avoid the
>  > hour/minutes/second system?
>  >
>
>There are various physical constants which could provide a
>non-arbitrary basis for time units, but unless your culture is
>relatively advanced scientifically when these units are devised, they
>probably won't be aware of them.
>
For the moment, I'm not making it as if it were for a scientifically
advanced people so I'd like to know those non-arbitary basis. I really can't
think of something that is regular in duration in nature

>If you have units of length, I suppose you could define a pendulum,
>and make the period of that your unit.  Or define an hour-glass or
>water-clock of particular dimensions.  Usually you'd have the unit
>first and make a clock to count it, though, not the other way around.
>
Yeah that's what I did for lenght so, if I could, I would do it for time too

But that's true I could use a hour-glass

But until now, I thought that subdivisions of a day were too hard to create
for a people without technology but if they use a stick in the ground, watch
the shadow, and divide the circle in equal parts

>Is there any particular reason not to take the obvious route, and
>divide the day by numbers other than 24 / 60 / 60?
Am I wrong if I think that the division in 24 hours is due to the facility
to divide that number in 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 and that the division in 60
minutes and seconds is due to the babylonians who counted in 60 (because
that number can also be divided in more numbers)

If so, that division depends too much of historic events for my language
that I want to be independant, that's the reason (The only link with other
languages is that it is spoke by humans on Earth, so body parts and
astronomy are the same as other cultures)

- Max

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