Are menchanical clocks more likely to stop at certain times of day, i.e. around 20 to 9, when the hands exert maximum torque?
121900
That's an interesting question.  There are different types of mechanical clocks.  For example pendulum (grandfather?) clocks use weights suspended on chains to power the clock and chimes.  When the weight falls to its limit (chain stop?) the power instantly ceases and the clock stops at any arbitrary time.\n\nIn a wound-spring mechanical clock, the power of the spring diminishes as it unwinds.  Also, there is a great deal of mechanical advantage involved because the clock hands must rotate a great many times for each rotation of the spring driveshaft.  This is similar to a lever where a slight force on the upper end traveling a great distance can exert a great force moving a slight distance at the lower end (to pry out a rock?).  The rock is like the spring and the clock hands are like the light load on the upper end (a lever reversed?).  In some mechanical clocks, the hands extends in both directions from their driveshafts being longer and thinner on one side and shorter and thicker on the other to balance their weights.  If not balanced, the hands require more power to lift them and the most power at about 9 on the clock face.  It may therefore have a slight tendency to stall an almost exhausted spring at 20 to 9 o'clock, as you propose and most likely at 9 on the clock face.  It follows that the minute hand will more likely stall the clock than the hour hand because it has about 12 times more mechanical advantage.  The effect that you mention is likely so small that it would take a statistical study to detect it over many windings of the clock.
571433
Nothing in my life needs to be exactly on the second. If clocks differ a minute or two, I don't care.  When I go somewhere I allways go early not to arrive late. The seconds doesn't really matter to me much.
291270
I forgot what the longest time from 12 was, but with USSR eased off, it should be max right now.\n\nI have not seen the clock lately either.\nLooks like 7 min till 12 is what it is on. 2006
363045
You are probably referring to UTC time (Coordinated Universal Time).  The offset for the central time zone would be UTC-5 during daylight savings time.
495544
First problem: You have assumed all the mass of the meter stick is concentrated at the lower end; obviously, it is uniformly distributed along the length of the stick.  Assume that the mass is concentrated at the center; then, the length of the oscillator will be 0.865 meters, and the period should correspond.  There are some complications involving moment of inertia which I am ignoring.\nSecond problem: You may be solving for the wrong thing.  It looks like you are solving for the frequency of oscillation, rather than the maximum speed of motion.  Some careful work with units will help show you what is going on.
469705
Newton's Cradle or Pendulum
92561
Because the hour hand is easier to read i.e. if the hand is in between the 5 and the 6 it's five something.  The minute hand is bigger because it is more precise.  It's harder to see the space between a minute on a clock.  Therefore, the hand is longer!
48641
At that moment, the time, and day could be written as "12:34 5/6/78"\n\nThat is only if you meant that the time was 12:34 rather than 12:24
383712
You don't say what sort of times you are looking for,If it is only an hour or two you could build one from the parts in "Hobbies Annual". If you are looking for days and weeks then get a timer from Ikea (two for a fiver) pull it apart and get yourself a 12 volt clock or instrument motor, Hobbies Annual again or perhaps your local Maplins, and a bit of finagling will do it.
544847
Well, they're so vague!  They're not wrong all the time for that simple reason.  Even a stopped clock is right, by happenstance, twice a day.
112872
mechanical timer\nNO delay until closed\npencil lead and 120AC\nDon't hurt anybody
216660
I have debated this once with another knowledgable person. We came to a conclusion that any calculation/prediction is applicable at only time. This time has different representations in different time zones.\nTo explain a little further. These effects are caused because of a planetary/celestial body movement. That happens at a particular instant (assuming a global time - ofcourse this is a violation of laws of relativity). So if the effects are predicted for 12 noon PST then it is valid in India at 12:30AM the following day and so on...
494380
You could solve this by figuring out the rate the hour hand turns and the minute hand turns, etc.  But it is much easier to think laterally.\n\nThe hour and minute hands of a clock line up perfectly at 12 noon, then again at regular intervals after that.  But those intervals are not an even hour.  It's a little more.\n\nBecause the hands line up *eleven* times in a 12 hour period, the interval between alignment is 12/11.\n\nIf you convert this to a time, it is exactly:\n12/11 = 1.0909... hours\n= 1 hour 5.4545... minutes\n= 1 hour 5 minutes 27.2727 seconds\n= 1 hour 5 minutes 27 3/11 seconds.\n\nSo the time when the hour and minute hands align perfectly will be at: 1:05:27 3/11\n\nFirst alignment: 1:05:27 3/11\nSecond alignment: 2:10:54 6/11\nThird alignment: 3:16:21 9/11\n...\nTenth alignment: 10:54:32 8/11\nEleventh alignment: 12:00:00\n\nThe time between one and two o'clock is:\n1 hour 5 minutes 27 3/11 seconds.
464447
They're made so the clock corresponds to daylight.  It was convenient to break the world into one-hour zones, which would give you 24.  The zones are determined by state and national boundaries and population concentrations, so they aren't perfectly straight north-south lines.  But the general result is that the sun is always about highest at noon, no matter where you are.  That only leaves the question of how we determine when we move from one day to the next.  That would be the international date line, running down through the Pacific ocean and carefully avoiding almost everything.
527675
Judge for yourself based on this: Time is a MAN MADE construction. That is, it is not a natural element in life. For those of you who would argue, please answer how it can be set back and set forward (daylight's saving time). If it were natural you wouldn't be able to limit it to the watches you wear or the clocks on the wall. It would be beyond any human control and it would be very hard for anyone to grasp the concept and explain it. As it is, we CAN explain it and grasp it, therefore, it is not natural.\n\nSo my answer is no.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n.
283145
Not unless a timer has already been set or some other parameter to make it go off.
511520
Check with your Local Council, they set the Noise times for construction etc, although sometimes builders can get variances. I think you will find Sunday is nil, comes from our Christian forefathers. I think offhand its 7AM to 7PM