6.- TIME ZONES
Time zones were created to make the time around the world correspond to the position of the sun.
We know that the earth is an sphere (360º), and that it takes 24 hours to rotate around its axis. That means that every hour the Earth moves 15º (as 15 x 24 = 360). Therefore, the Earth should be divided into 24 different time zones which go from Pole to Pole.
We measure time zones from the Greenwich meridian.
If we go east, we move the clock forward one hour every time zone we cross. If we go west, we move the clock back one hour every time zone we cross.
Anyway, the time zones are influenced by political factors. For example, Spain used Greenwich Mean Time before the Second World War (except for the Canary Islands. However, the time zone was changed to Central European Time during the war and has remained so since then. Some countries like China or Argentina use the same time over the whole country in spite of having more than one time zone.
Time zones were created to make the time around the world correspond to the position of the sun.
We know that the earth is an sphere (360º), and that it takes 24 hours to rotate around its axis. That means that every hour the Earth moves 15º (as 15 x 24 = 360). Therefore, the Earth should be divided into 24 different time zones which go from Pole to Pole.
We measure time zones from the Greenwich meridian.
If we go east, we move the clock forward one hour every time zone we cross. If we go west, we move the clock back one hour every time zone we cross.
Anyway, the time zones are influenced by political factors. For example, Spain used Greenwich Mean Time before the Second World War (except for the Canary Islands. However, the time zone was changed to Central European Time during the war and has remained so since then. Some countries like China or Argentina use the same time over the whole country in spite of having more than one time zone.
A
L