Sun Clock!

Do you know what is a Sun Clock? Do you know how it works? Do you even know that there is a sun clock in San Francisco? Read the text below and find out the answers to these questions.

Sun Clocks are clocks that use the movement of the Sun to mark time. They are also called sundial clocks. The Sun casts a shadow on the triangular pointer called gnomon. There are numbers all the way around the circle and based on where the shadow is you can know what time it is! That is the way that people used to know the time hundreds of years ago.
One of the disadvantange is in the winter time, on cloudy/rainy days and at night you cannot know the time by this kind of clock. Another negative point is that you can only know the hour of the day, not the minutes.

Well, the fact is that there is one sun clock in San Francisco! It is in the Golden Gate Park, in front of the de Young Museum! It is near the places to leave the bikes!

Hope you can find it and learn a little bit of this old invention!

Clock

On Market St there is a street clock. I researched and discovered that Verdin is the company which makes street clocks and bells. This company was founded in 1842 and in this year they will complet 170 years old! Since the foundation of them the business is passing the generation by generation! 


This clock in SF is special because it is one of the finest street clock in America! It is insured by Lloyds of London. 


Are you interesting? Do you want visit the website of them? Click here !

Green Technology!

In San Francisco some companies developed a solar system to save energy on bus stops. Designers created a special shelter, called "Seismic Wave", which has a wave on top. This wave is made with 40 percent of post-consumer recycled polycarbonate and can capture solar energy. The system not only produces energy for itself, but also gives back energy to grid. Up to 40 percent of all energy produced can be recycled back into the power grid. During the winter and in cloudy days the panels can work because the equipment just need sunlight (sunlight can go beyond the clouds). The new wave can generate up to 100 watts of electricity; this is more than enough to power high backlit information panels, NextBus and Push to Talk technologies.

I've never seen this technology in Brazil, nor have I seen in other part of the world.