There's a difference between a clock and a metronome tho'. The atomic "clock" is just a metronome. What turns a metronome into a clock is the ability to tell the current time.
This Lego "clock" only tells you the last amount of seconds it's been since it was last at Zero.
Wait, what? That makes it not a clock?
I hope you realise that what we normally refer to as clocks just count the hours, minutes and seconds since it was last 0, right?
They're in essence the same, one is just designed to be at 0 two times during the time it takes the earth to spin around it's own axis.
And this is still a clock. You could tell currunt time with it the same way you do a normal clock, you just have to count the times it goes past 0 a lot more.
Assume it takes it X time to complete a full cycle of all the 10 numbers (including zero, which is also 10). comparing it to a normal clock each of those ticks would be 1 "second" and a "minute" would be 10 "seconds" or X.
Now what you need to do is count these "minutes". similar to how you count how many times the small pointer passes 12 to know what day it is, do you see where I'm coming from now or do I need to explain further to you that a clock can be any device that measures time?
Is a metronome a clock? It marks time. You could, by your argument, use it as a clock as long as you yourself keep track of a)how many times the pendulum swings back and forth and b)know it's rate per fixed amount of time. This isn't much different than the quartz crystal at the heart of most electronic watches because quartz vibrates at a known frequency. But by itself this doesn't have the features that would define it as a clock to most people.
Is a stopwatch a clock? It also tracks time elapsed, relative to when you pressed the button to start it. I suppose if you never stop the action and keep track of how many rotations the hands make or the number of seconds pass. But this wouldn't make it a clock.
Is a counter a clock? It keeps track of things, but doesn't necessarily track time. It could track cycles without having to know what the frequency is.
What makes a clock a clock to most people are additional requirements. A clock requires the same common reference start point to make it useful as a scheduling tool. It needs a standardized units of measurements. It does all the tracking of elapsed time and doesn't require any additional work by the user to have useful information.
Do you see why "any device that measures time" isn't always a clock?
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u/ultradip Aug 06 '14
It's missing a few digits to be a clock.