My clock has several moving parts: the three hands and gears inside of it. What clock has the least moving parts? What clock has the most?

(In reply to solution Spoiler by Daniel)

I really like your answer!  And I would say, for this problem, it is probably the correct one.

But the sundial really has a very large number of moving parts.  They are called photons! 

Almost every "clock" may be said to be made up of a myriad of moving parts -- as most known matter is made up of myriads of atomic and sub-atomic particles that do not lie at rest.  As these units of matter have half-lives, indicating that they might be used as a measurement of time, one could say one of these are a "clock" with the least moving parts.

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Okay, a "part" often means it is a portion of the object itself.  Though external forces, energies and particles might interact -- they are not truly a "part" of the "clock".  So a sundial can be said to have no moving parts.  The same can be said about some broken watches, cookoo clocks, long clocks, etc.  Movable parts, yes, but not moving parts.

Edited on July 2, 2006, 12:48 pm

Posted by Dej Mar on 2006-07-01 21:11:23