Q 01/05

The word 'clock' comes from the medieval Latin clocca, meaning what?

A) Wheel

B) Bell

C) Shadow

D) Hour

Answer · why

B) Bell

Early tower clocks had no dials at all; they simply rang the hours, so the name for the bell became the name for the machine.

Q 02/05

Along with sundials, which device is possibly the oldest time-measuring instrument?

A) The candle clock

B) The incense clock

C) The water clock

D) The hourglass

Answer · why

C) The water clock

The water clock: the Greeks called it the clepsydra, 'water thief'. Flowing water is hard to keep steady, so it was never very accurate, which pushed ...

Q 03/05

Which invention made the first mechanical clocks possible in Europe around 1300?

A) The anchor escapement

B) The balance wheel

C) The mainspring

D) The verge escapement

Answer · why

D) The verge escapement

The verge escapement lets a falling weight's pull out one tick at a time; it ruled clockmaking for about 350 years, until the pendulum arrived in the ...

Q 04/05

Which English cathedral's iron clock, thought to date from 1386, is said to be the world's oldest still working?

A) York Minster

B) Salisbury

C) Canterbury

D) Wells

Answer · why

B) Salisbury

Salisbury: its faceless clock, built only to strike the hours, was pushed aside for a new one in 1884, lay forgotten for over forty years and was rest...

Q 05/05

In which country was a towering astronomical clock built in the 11th century, long before Europe's mechanical clocks?

A) India

B) China

C) Persia

D) Egypt

Answer · why

B) China

China: the polymath Su Song built the tower in Kaifeng, where it turned a celestial globe and sounded the hours. Carried off when the capital fell in ...