Parts of a Stopwatch

All stopwatches have the same basic parts to them; the face, where the time is displayed, and the buttons. A stopwatch differs from a clock in that it does not measure constant time, but rather counts time upward at very precise intervals. Stopwatches are used for sporting events, but are useful for any situation in which you need to measure time precisely.

  1. Face

    • The face of a stopwatch may be either analog or digital. Stopwatches are often used in situations where precision is critical, so both analog and digital usually feature time divisions in up to hundredths or thousands of a second. The face of an analog stopwatch may have several hands, each representing a different increment of time; digital stopwatches will simply display the time in a minute:second:hundredth format.

    Buttons

    • The buttons on a stopwatch are very similar between analog and digital versions. At the very least, a button to start and stop the stopwatch is required. Most modern stopwatches also feature both a reset button and a lap button. The reset button reverts the time to zero, saving the necessity of winding it by hand. The lap button differs between digital and analog. On an analog clock, it will stop a special lap hand on the face of the clock, giving the time of a particular lap. On a digital clock, the lap button displays the current time but continues to count in the background.

    Usage

    • Stopwatches are used in modern competitions of speed. Swimming, short-distance running, equestrian sports, skiing, snowboarding, and biking are just some of the applications. In some sports, such as swimming, digital stopwatches are connected to starting pads which athletes kick when starting or finishing a race. This allows for much more accurate timing than would be possible than by pressing a button.

    History

    • The first stopwatch was produced by the TAG Heuer company under the name micrograph. Since then, other companies have begin creating their own stopwatches, seeing the potential. In 1855, a horse named Lexington set a world speed record that was recorded by stopwatch; the time was recorded to a precision of quarter-seconds. This famous race encouraged the widespread production of the mechanical stopwatches of the day. Today, most watches and stopwatches operate on quartz, which resonates at a reliable number of times per second when electric signals are applied.