• Question: why is the times all around the world different?

    Asked by caitlink0406 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi there Caitlin,

      Because the Earth is a globe, different parts of it are pointing at the sun at different times.
      We don’t have to have different times at different places. We could have 7:00am be the same all around the world, only it would be dawn in England, Midday in Russia, and Bedtime in Australia. That would be confusing, so we change the clocks in each place (the change is called “timezones”) to line up so that 12:00 noon is when the sun is highest in the sky.

      There is a close link between time and knowing where you are. You can tell how far North or South you are by how high the sun is in the sky at midnight. East and West are trickier though – To know where you are, you ask the question “When it is noon here (the sun is highest) what time is it in England?” That tells you how far around the world you are from England.

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Yet again Drew was in here before us – speedy answerer!! 🙂

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Great question caitlink0406! Great answer by Drew!

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Time zones correct for the sun to be in the same place in the sky at the same time… High Noon – Sun high in the sky.
      Becase the earth rotates around the sun, the sun cant be in sydney and london at once!

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi caitlink0406! I like this question! Especially since I am in a very different time-zone then you =) Drew’s got it absolutely right with a great description of why we have time-zones. Its just more convenient.

      There is an important point about why the Sun moves across our sky – its because the Earth is actually moving! The Earth spins on a central axis (sort-of like a spinning top). You can try to see what this looks like at home by taking a ball with a red dot on it and a flashlight. If you go in a dark room and shine the light on the ball you will see half of it illuminated and the other half will be dark. The Earth is also round, so it is the same thing with the Earth/Sun system: the light side is day the dark side is night. If you turn the ball you can see that the red dot passes through day to night or visa versa. If your mark is on the day side, it is night for someone else on the other side!! It would be really tough to have both those places have the same time!

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