Time zones

http://www.funsocialstudies.learning haven.com/articles/timezones.htm

What Are They & Why Do We Need Them?

We measure the day by saying that the sun is at it's highest point at 12 o'clock, midday. Because the earth spins, as it travels around the sun, one half of the earth is in darkness and one half in light, all the time. This brings us to a problem. If it is midday where you are, on the opposite side of the earth, it is dark, so what time is it on the opposite side of the world? The earth is divided into time zones. The time is the same everywhere within one time zone, but different to all the other time zones.

How Time Zones Work

Because everyone wants to measure their day with the sun being at its highest point at midday, scientists came up with the idea to divide the earth into different time zones. There are 24 hours in a day, so there are 24 time zones. The time is the same everywhere within one time zone, but different to all the other time zones. When you move from one time zone to the next one, you change your watch by one hour. If you are traveling in an easterly direction you move your watch one hour forwards, if you are moving in a westerly direction you move it one hour backwards. Example: New York is west of London, and they are separated by 5 time zones. This means that when it is midday in New York it is 5 pm in London. When it is midday in London it is 7 am in New York.

International prime meridian

The prime meridian is the line of 0 longitude, the starting point for measuring distance both east and west around the Earth. The prime meridian is arbitrary, meaning it could be chosen to be anywhere. Any line of longitude (a meridian) can serve as the 0 longitude line. However, there is an international agreement that the meridian that runs through Greenwich, England, is considered the official prime meridian. Governments did not always agree that the Greenwich meridian was the prime meridian, making navigation over long distances very difficult. Different countries published maps and charts with longitude based on the meridian passing through their capital city. France would publish maps with 0 longitude running through Paris. Cartographers in China would publish maps with 0 longitude running through Beijing. Even different parts of the same country published materials based on local meridians. Finally, at an international convention called by U.S. President Chester Arthur in 1884, representatives from 25 countries agreed to pick a single, standard meridian. They chose the meridian passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The Greenwich Meridian became the international standard for the prime meridian.

UTC
The prime meridian also sets Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC never changes for daylight savings or anything else. Just as the prime meridian is the standard for longitude, UTC is the standard for time. All countries and regions measure their time zones according to UTC. There are 24 time zones in the world. If an event happens at 11:00 a.m. in Houston, Texas, it would be reported at 12 p.m. in Orlando, Florida; 4:00 p.m. in Morocco; 9:00 p.m. in Kolkata, India; and 6:00 a.m. in Honolulu, Hawaii. The event happened at 4:00 p.m. UTC. The prime meridian also helps establish the International Date Line. The Earth's longitude measures 360, so the halfway point from the prime meridian is the 180 longitude line. The meridian at 180 longitude is commonly known as the International Date Line. As you pass the International Date Line, you either add a day (going west) or subtract a day (going east.)

Laser Meridian
Laser Meridian Today, the prime meridian is marked by a laser beam that shoots out northward from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

Time zones

Prime meridiam