The Second Hand
It's hard to imagine today, but the concept of time has undergone many changes over the centuries. Back in the day nobody had a need for a unit of time smaller than a minute but as progress is made, we all know that important events occur in smaller and smaller increments of time. It was 1772 when Benjamin Franklin was experimenting on electricity and needed to time his experiments in more exact measurements. He devised a new unit of time, the 'second' - and he decided to put 60 of them within a minute. He added a second hand to his clock and was thus able to time how long it took for electricity to travel from the kite to the key tied on the string.
Gigi,
11 years ago
How did he get the idea?
hh,
10 years ago
no idea
xinyu,
9 years ago
my class is doing a report on who invented the second hand on the clock
Adam,
5 years ago
This is absolutely not true. The earliest record of a seconds hand dates back to 1560, and after Huygens developed the pendulum clock in the late 17th century, second hands started appearing soon after. In fact, when John Harrison finished his first marine chronometer in 1736, the accuracy was already being tested in seconds.
bob,
4 years ago
i like it
jerryyyy,
4 years ago
the first pendulum clock had two hands. and it was made in 1556
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