Engineering question [Discworld related]

[Lord_Of_Change 9]

So, in the Discworld book Thief of Time the plot revolves around a clock made entirely out of glass. Is making such a clock actually possible in the real world? I mean, could it actually tell time and work much as a normal mechanical clock?

[madd0ct0r]

well, the discworld clock used electricity, had a 'spring' made out glass and had some extra parts OUTSIDE the universe.

but if you used a dropping weight for the power source, yeah. laser cut glass parts. no big problem.

[Lord_Of_Change 9]

well, the discworld clock used electricity, had a 'spring' made out glass and had some extra parts OUTSIDE the universe.

but if you used a dropping weight for the power source, yeah. laser cut glass parts. no big problem.

Ah, thanks.

[Simon_Jester]

You might even be able to cast or grind the pieces- lasers probably not required.

I think the premise with the glass clock was that it was supposed to be sort of "like" a digital or atomic clock in its extreme precision, hence the need for outright magical components given the context of technology on the Discworld.

[madd0ct0r]

It measured the 'tick' of the universe.

for cogs - lasers are soooooo much easier.

the weight chain would have to be similar shape to a bike chain, although a glass fiber rope could work I suppose.

[Lord_Of_Change 9]

I think the premise with the glass clock was that it was supposed to be sort of "like" a digital or atomic clock in its extreme precision, hence the need for outright magical components given the context of technology on the Discworld.

IIRC it was meant to measure the Discworld equivalent of Planck time - which was why it needed to have extra-universal parts.

Of course a real-life glass clock wouldn't freeze time.

[Sea Skimmer]

Cutting out the pieces seems easy enough, but you also need a bunch of glass pins to hold everything together and that may not work out so well.

[Darth Wong]

The glass spring seems problematic. Glass does not have a long elastic strain.

[Darmalus]

As I remember, making a working glass spring was a major plot point (I kinda remember the first one exploding, or shattering, because it hadn't been worked out yet).

Also, didn't it have a prism that split light in a very particular fashion? Or was that the magic part that was mentioned?

[Crossroads Inc.]

Could you make a Silicon spring?
I mean most glass is just silicon in a slightly different form.

[D.Turtle]

Well thats just cheating.

[Jaepheth]

There are many plans for wooden clocks available online that require no springs.
Just substitute glass for all the components and you're done. Though as madDoctor says you'll need to devise some sort of rope-like glass structure to suspend the drop-weight

[Korto]

Use a chain instead.
And since it should be possible to make all the parts by casting and grinding, it means that the technology necessary to make it is far less, just the ability to make clocks and good glass, not lasers.
Interesting idea for my D&D game, although the presence of magic makes it less of a big deal.

[Darth Wong]

Was there some particular reason why they wanted to make a clock out of glass instead of a material that is sturdier and easier to work with?

[Dalton]

Was there some particular reason why they wanted to make a clock out of glass instead of a material that is sturdier and easier to work with?

It's hard to explain without reading the book, but essentially clocks made entirely out of glass in that particular fantasy setting are immensely dangerous, i.e. they break Time itself. The whole book revolves around this plot point; the antagonists wish this clock to be built, and the protagonists must stop it.

[Vaporous]

of course, discworld operates on the Theory of Narrative Causality, so the fact that building the clock is nearly impossible makes its existence almost inevitable.