Timers, Clocks, and Stopwatches
Laboratory timers, clocks, and stopwatches are essential items of equipment found in most laboratories, educational settings, and a whole range of other workplace environments. Although some timers, clocks, and stopwatches have traditional mechanical movements, most modern electronic digital versions now offer quartz crystal reliability and accuracy down to 0.005%. Some models are radio-controlled by a remotely transmitted time signal and offer even greater accuracy. Applications include:
- Recording the elapsed times or durations of various procedures, processes or phenomena
- Performing time-critical procedures or processes according to pre-ordained and pre-set times
- Simply telling the actual time of day!
Laboratory timers, clocks, and stopwatches come with a multitude of different features and options:
- Single function or multifunctional models, the latter with combined timer, stopwatch and clock capability, and multichannel models which can record up to three or four different timed processes simultaneously
- Pocket-sized timers, benchtop timers or wall-mounted clocks, plus water-resistant models for outdoor use or other challenging environments
- Bright backlit LCD or LED digital or analogue displays – some timers, clocks, and stopwatches have extra-large digits for easy readability at a distance
- Count-up or count-down functionality, with audible, visual or even vibrational alarms at time-out
- Various memory options, including reusable programmable settings for recurring and routine lab experiments
- Most timers offer a resolution typically down to 1 second, stopwatches offer far greater resolutions often down to 0.01s
- Many laboratory timers, clocks, and stopwatches are supplied with certification traceability to standards provided or recognised by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
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