How astonishing is it to think that it is the same Earth that we live in, yet we follow different time clocks. For instance, the Australia time clock is different from the time clock in India. This is due to the rotation of the Earth. The Earth is never stationary. It is always moving. It spins on a pole, which is imaginary, known as the axis. The Earth takes 24 hours to complete one full rotation on the axis. This one full rotation of the Earth causes the completion of one full day.
Due to the rotation of the Earth, different parts of the Earth receive light during different times of the day. This causes day and night. When a location on the Earth moves towards the sun, it receives sunlight and experiences daytime.
Time Zones
The Earth is divided into more than 24 time zones. This has been done keeping in mind a number of factors. If the entire Earth followed one single time zone, it would create a lot of confusion. While in some places, noon would be the mode of the day, whereas in others, it would be evening, morning, or even the middle of the night. In order to maintain a standardized time in the different places of the Earth, scientists divided the Earth into time zones. It is because of these time zones that the India time clock is different from the America time clock and the Australia time clock.
How Were the Time Zones Demarcated
Australia time clock
Scientists figured out a technique using which they could divide the whole world into various time zones. For this reason, they started studying the movements of the Earth in detail. During the rotation of the Earth on its axis, every 60 minutes, it moves approximately 60 minutes. Thus, after a time period of 24 hours, the Earth completes a complete rotation of 360 degrees. Owing to this, the scientists divided the Earth into 24 time zones. There are 15 degrees between two time zones. These time zones help to make sure that no matter where a person is, noon will be the middle of the day, and midnight will be the middle of the night. The sun has to be at the highest position at noon. Therefore, it can be said that the time zones help to maintain standardization of time. Therefore, different countries have time clocks which differ from one another. When the Indian time clock shows 9:22 pm, the Australia time clock will show 2:52 am; the America time clock will show 10:52 am, and so on.
The Concept of GMT
There are imaginary lines that help to demarcate the time zones. The starting point of these lines is at Greenwich, which is a suburb in London. The longitude, which is considered the primary dividing line, is known are the Prime Meridian. The time at Greenwich is known as GMT or Greenwich Mean Time. As a person starts to move towards the west of Greenwich, the time is earlier than that at Greenwich. Similarly, the places located to the east of Greenwich run at a time later than that at Greenwich.
For instance, let’s take into consideration Charlotte, North Carolina, and Madrid, Spain. The location of Charlotte is five time zones towards the west of the Prime Meridian. This means that while an individual may be having lunch in Madrid during noon; the other individuals at Charlotte may be waking up at 6:00 am and getting ready for work. The difference between these two places is 6 hours. Hope this gives you an overall idea about how the different time clocks work.
About The Author
