How does longitude affect time zones

Aug 6, Explanation: In theory every 15 degrees change in longitude from line zero in England represents a new time zone or a 1 hour difference. Political factors aside generally the time zones change every 15 degrees.

Related questions How do you find the latitude and longitude of a city? Explain how latitude and longitude are used? One of the reasons for this choice was that Britain had been the dominant colonial and seafaring power in the eighteen and nineteen centuries, thus their nautical maps, with Greenwich as the prime meridian, were already being used around the world.

France abstained from the vote and clung to its rival Paris meridian for another 30 years see SF Fig. A day is composed of 24 hours.

However, political and geographical boundaries, as well as convenience, have resulted in time zones that are anything but regular SF Fig. For example, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Burma, Newfoundland, Venezuela, the Marquesas, and parts of Australia use half-hour deviations from standard time. Other nations, such as Nepal, use quarter-hour deviations. This means that there are approximately 40 time zones rather than This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.

Skip to main content. Search form Search. Join The Community Request new password. What are you wondering? Wonder Words prime meridian axis rotation degrees longitude curvature imaginary location angular Take the Wonder Word Challenge. Join the Discussion. Marvin Nov 19, Get your facts right! Nov 19, Tav-El Mar 14, But why? Why does it matter whether everyone's noon is the same? Which it isn't, because we all live on different latitudes, so we don't experience high noon the same regardless.

What does it matter if, when I go to bed, the sun has been down for two hours, and I call it , while my friend in Kenya is just waking up, and it's also , because we all use the same clock? What exactly would be the problem with that? Time is a construct. Mar 14, Hey, Tav-El!

Great questions. Maybe a little research would help answer them. I love this website because you explain it very well so people can understand. Keep up the good work! I LOVE this website! Oct 18, Thanks, rigatoni! Brianna ouellette Oct 1, I loved this, when my class learned about time zones we were amazed at the results.

Parker mason Nov 8, Michale Apr 25, So im writing a paper on how the world is not flat. Im using this site. Is there a certain author or what? Makenna May 2, May 25, Apr 30, Science wonder Mar 8, Mar 12, Mar 5, How did the scientists studied Earth's movements? And what way they figured out to divide the world into different time zones? Oct 26, Don't wanna spoil it! Watch the second season! Dec 4, Sep 14, Thanks, gerry!

Glad to have you as a Wonder Friend! I am the coolest Aug 31, Sep 3, Person May 13, This was stupid and entirely misses the point. Timezones are unecessary for the same reason that in the northern hemisphere christmas is a wintery wonderland. Why in the world noon have to be "mid day" everywhere? It's just arbitrary and nonsensical. If we wanted it to be logical the moon would rise at roughly am. I feel as though you took the easy way out.

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OMG Apr 5, Allison Apr 4, Apr 5, Ishaan Shetty Mar 26, Why did they have to change the time around the world. Mar 28, Apr 1, Local time is the time at one particular meridian.

Since the sun cannot transit two meridians simultaneously, no two meridians have exactly the same local time. This time is proportional to the angular distance between the two meridians. The easternmost meridian has a later local time, because the sun has crossed its lower branch first; thus, the day is older there. These statements hold true whether referring to the apparent sun or the mean sun. Each zone uses the LMT of its central meridian.

A few areas of the world are further divided and use half-hour increments from GMT. The zones are designated by numbers from 0 to 12 and —12, each indicating the number of hours that must be added or subtracted to local zone time LZT to obtain GMT.

Since the time is earlier in the zones west of Greenwich, the numbers of these zones are plus; in those zones east of Greenwich, the numbers are minus.

The zone boundaries have been modified to conform with geographical boundaries for greater convenience. For example, in case a zone boundary passed through a city, it would be impractical to use the time of one zone in one part of the city and the time of the adjacent zone in the other part. In some countries, which overlap two or three zones, one time is used throughout.