Water clock

Okay, so imagine a big bucket of water that fills up step by step and then spills out from the top. Now, what if we could measure the time it takes for the water to fill up to each step and spill out, by counting how many times it does that in one day?

That’s basically how a water clock works! But instead of a bucket, we use a special container called a clepsydra and instead of measuring minutes or hours, it measures the hours of the day.

The clepsydra consists of two main parts: the container that holds the water and a steady drip that lets the water escape in a controlled manner. As the water escapes into a measuring vessel, it fills it up to a certain level at a certain hour.

So, if we divide the day into twelve parts, each time the water fills up the measuring cup, we know that one hour has passed. We can use this to tell the time or even to record time for events or appointments.

Of course, nowadays we have fancy clocks that don't need water, but water clocks were used in the past because they were reliable and also helped people keep track of time during the day and night.