Was there an alternative adjective to “clockwise” other than “the rotation you take around left hand”?

Also, how did all watch companies around the world agree on what the direction of “clockwise” is?

  • kuneho@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I don’t have an answer for the original question, but what about just saying rotate right/left?

    I mean, if I imagine a circle rolling on a flat surface, rotating right means the rotation that rolls the circle right (so clockwise rotation), and rotating left would be the opposite; where the circle rolls left.

    • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It works, but it’s ambiguous. You have to specify which part you’re referring to if you want to be sure you’re understood.

      • Uncle_Bagel@midwest.social
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        11 months ago

        Honestly the hardest concept for me to grasp in organic chemistry was left vs right chirality. I could understand why they were different, but fuck me if i could ever consistently identify them.

      • kuneho@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You have to specify which part you’re referring to

        What do you mean by that?

        • Nash42@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          Turning right, looking at the top of the clock, is different from turning right while looking at the bottom of the clock. And so on.

          • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            You’re not entirely wrong, but the convention is to refer to the top of the wheel. But you could be looking at the wheel from the other side, which would change its direction from your perspective.

            • kuneho@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              That’s true, but saying clockwise/anticlockwise also works with fixed perspective, unless the thing itself has a fixed orientation. but if that’s the case, left/right works the same.

              • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                No, it’s an extra level of confusion. Clockwise/counterclockwise only has one axis of confusion (looking from front or behind) with one option being the obvious default. Left/right have this axis AND the axis of top/bottom for confusion. It’s literally one bit more ambiguous.

        • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          No matter which direction a ball rolls, part of it moves to the right, and part to the left (either top right and bottom left, or vice versa). If you don’t specify which part of the ball you’re looking at, it could be either top or bottom, so the statement is ambiguous.

            • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              No, they are well-defined. There is no missing information in “clockwise”. There is missing information in “right”.

              There is no “top clockwise” or “bottom clockwise”.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      What if the wheel is fixed to a frame and it moves a sheet above it like a conveyor system? Is the frame of reference the direction the sheet moves or is it how the wheel moves against the sheet? What if the sheet is below it like a pasta machine or sheet metal former? That being said, “right tightly, lefty loosey” has certainly prevailed