• Question: Why do we have time zones?

    Asked by jackboothexplodes to Cesar, Emily, Jamie, Kate, Philippa on 18 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Jamie Gallagher

      Jamie Gallagher answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      because it makes things easier to relate. If I say I went a run at 1pm you know I would be running in the afternoon, it would be light, it would be around lunchtime.

      Now assume we had no time zones just one world clock and I was in america and told you the same. Running at 1pm. It might be the middle of the night, it might be early morning, could be dark could be light.

      With the time zone we all know what it is like when. No matter where you go in the world afternoon still seems like afternoon.

      I’m sure there are many more reasons that I am unaware of too

    • Photo: Kate Clancy

      Kate Clancy answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I’m with Jamie. Plus, in a country as big as the USA, where I live, it would be very hard to time cross-country phone calls without them! They are a little arbitrary, but they help us agree on times so that when I say I want to meet you for coffee at 10am you would know what I mean.

      Now in the USA, there are a few weird places where certain towns refuse to honor daylight savings time. So sometimes two towns are on different “times” even though they are right next to each other! It is rather ridiculous.

    • Photo: Philippa Demonte

      Philippa Demonte answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      @jackboothexplodes We only have different time zones for practical reasons like @Jamie says below. However, in Earth science, seismic traces for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are reported in UTC (coordinated universal time) / GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) as well as the local time so that it is easier to see if the earthquake or volcanic eruption has had an effect at the same time elsewhere in the world.

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