WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:02.850
If you ask Google, then the largest clock
in the world

2
00:00:02.850 --> 00:00:05.020
is the one atop the Mecca Clock Tower,

3
00:00:05.030 --> 00:00:08.189
one of the largest buildings in the world,
in Saudi Arabia.

4
00:00:08.189 --> 00:00:10.309
Each face is 43 metres in diameter,

5
00:00:10.309 --> 00:00:13.579
and it can be seen for miles around.

6
00:00:13.579 --> 00:00:14.820
No.

7
00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:18.170
This is the actual largest clock in the world
right now,

8
00:00:18.170 --> 00:00:20.480
at the Rheinturm, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

9
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.350
I know what you're thinking, that's not a
clock,

10
00:00:23.350 --> 00:00:24.790
that's a broadcast tower. In fact,

11
00:00:24.790 --> 00:00:28.840
there's a tower a bit like this in most major
cities in Germany.

12
00:00:28.840 --> 00:00:30.120
It's kind of their thing.

13
00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:31.640
The view from the top is wonderful.

14
00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:36.340
But it's also an enormous clock... it's just
a digital one.

15
00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:39.840
You see those lights on the side? Read them
from top to bottom,

16
00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.530
each group as a number. 1, 7, 3, 2.

17
00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:46.149
17 32.

18
00:00:46.149 --> 00:00:48.430
There's some seconds there on the bottom as
well,

19
00:00:48.430 --> 00:00:49.930
but it's about half past five.

20
00:00:49.930 --> 00:00:53.140
And at more than a hundred metres high,

21
00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:55.989
that is a clock about twice the height than
the one at Mecca,

22
00:00:55.989 --> 00:00:58.700
although admittedly it has a bit less surface
area.

23
00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:02.790
But that brings me to a question: what counts
as a clock?

24
00:01:02.790 --> 00:01:04.379
If you ask the Guinness Book of Records,

25
00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.860
the largest clock was a temporary structure.

26
00:01:06.860 --> 00:01:08.880
It had an area of more than eight square kilometres,

27
00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:13.170
and it was made with lasers at the 2011 Burning
Man festival.

28
00:01:13.170 --> 00:01:16.630
That is so much bigger than this tower.

29
00:01:16.630 --> 00:01:19.750
But what if I took lights like the ones on
the side of here,

30
00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:22.380
sent them round the world, so America had
the hours,

31
00:01:22.380 --> 00:01:25.659
Europe and the Middle East had the minutes
and Asia had the seconds,

32
00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:30.979
if I hooked them up so they all flashed together
and acted as one big device...

33
00:01:30.979 --> 00:01:32.490
would that count?

34
00:01:32.490 --> 00:01:35.220
Could we, with a fairly small amount of effort,

35
00:01:35.220 --> 00:01:38.409
make a clock as big as the earth?

36
00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:40.510
And if so, would it count?

37
00:01:40.510 --> 00:01:46.030
Or does a clock need to be something that
one person can just look at

38
00:01:46.030 --> 00:01:48.510
and actually use to tell the time?

39
00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:51.600
[Translating these subtitles? Add your name here!]