Human perception of time

[steveT350C]

So,


I have a dripping tap in downstairs cloakroom.

Whilst I was in there yesterday and listening the the drip drip, I perceived that the drips were occuring almost a second apart. Almost...

So I counted the drips over a minute; the drips were occuring every 0.9 seconds, meaning I can differentiate a second to an accuracy of at least +/- 10%

I am now wondering how long it will be before my wife starts nagging me to fix the drip.

[steveT350C]

To clarify; I was listening to the dripping and initially thought they were about a second apart. On focusing my attention to the dripping, I could tell they were slightly less than a second apart apart.

Subsequent measuring using stopwatch for a minute and counting drips showed them to be 0.9 secs apart.



I do have a life outside of my cloakroom

[steveT350C]

motco said:

Why is it that when you (well me anyway) look at a quartz analogue clock on the wall - one with a sweep second hand - the second hand seems at first sight to be stationary for longer than the normal time interval between steps? I unfailingly think momentarily that the clock has stopped.

Chronostasis....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronostasis