What are time zones and what are they for

Man has intervened and created a system to try to control time and in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk precisely about it. Thus, this time we will focus on defining what are time zones and what are they for. Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if there were no hours? Or if each town had a different system? Join us on this journey to discover more about this phenomenon.

Index

1. Time zones: what are they
2. How the earth is divided
3. Time zones and their functionality

We started our lesson by talking about what time zones are. They are also called time zone, and it is because the Earth agreed to divide it into 24 parts thanks to the well-known meridians, the main one being that of Greenwich.

And it is that the meridians were created to determine the beginning of the days and the passing of the hoursTherefore, we are faced with a normalization or an international agreement so that everyone abides by the same system.

Therefore, the time zones correspond to the different hours of the day, with an hour difference between the two.

Image: Slideshare

After a study, it was calculated that It takes 24 hours for the Earth to turn around on itself, that is, to rotate completely; This study was conducted by studying the movement from the West until it returned to that exact point where the count was started.

Therefore, it was stipulated to divide the land into 24 stripesIn this way, everyone would have to go through the same hours, for this reason, the meridians were "placing" (they are not physical) precisely at the point where midday fell. Although it seems complex, seen on the map it is not.

In addition, the meridians divide the Earth into two hemispheres: the north and the south, an element that makes them even have a day difference between one and the other, since they only coincide when it is half day on the Greenwich meridian (the only time of day in which the entire globe has the same date). Thus the western block has one day less, on the east.

Within our lesson we are going to talk now about what are time zones for. We have to say that it serves to set a legal time in each part of the world, an element destined to matters commercial (especially), that is why each exchange, from different countries, open each one at one hour.

But does everyone respect this rule? The answer is no, since there are countries that, either because they are larger than others, because the capital resides in a meridian and the rest of the country is in another or for socio-economic reasons, they have variations with respect to the time legal.

That way, Spain has two different time zones, moving back or forward an hour throughout the year, with the well-known winter change and summer change, a change that was initially due to political issues, but is also related to the use of light solar. The reason is that it is one of the countries in Europe where the sun affects the most throughout the year, and is also different between the north and south of the peninsula.

In the same way, we know that the United States, Australia or China also have other uses other than the legal one, which has repercussions on socio-economic matters.

Image: News - Weather

If you want to read more articles similar to What are time zones and what are they for, we recommend that you enter our category of Astronomy.