What time is it? Seriously, does anyone have the time?
No, no, it’s not. Well, the more that I think about it, though, it COULD be “Tool
Time.” But before I get into that...it’s time you know that I’m Mr. Beat
And even if you are watching this at the exact same time as someone else right now, I would
get different answers from you since many of you are watching from different time zones.
But hold up. What is a time zone? Well, a time zone is a region of the Earth
where everyone agrees it’s the same time. Also referred to as “local time,” most
time zones are exactly one hour apart. It’s why time travel is possible. But Einstein
is NOT the world’s first time traveler. People travel through time all the time thanks
to time zones. Yep, just by going west you can go BACK IN
TIME. But go too far west and you’re in the future. But don’t worry. Just travel
back east and you’ll get back to the past. Oh boy I am already losing many of you.
Ok, let’s start simple. There are 24 hours in a day.
Now, we’ve been dividing each day into 24 hours going back to, like, the ancient Egyptians.
And because most of us still measure how long a day is by hours, the idea is that there
would be 24 time zones around the earth, ya know...since the Earth rotates about 15 degrees
every hour. After 24 hours, that’s a full rotation of 360 degrees for a full day. So
you’d have 24 lunes, or shapes that look like this, all 15 degrees of longitude apart
and boom, we all live happily ever after.
But no, (laughs) that’s not how time zones are shaped. And in fact, there are more than
24 time zones! In fact, as many as 39 time zones?
Now originally there WERE 24 standard time zones that extended from the South Pole to
the North Pole, but due to mainly politics and geography, time zones are often very skewed.
But before we get into why that is, this video is sponsored in part by Morning Brew.
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Ok, let’s go into a bit of history here about time zones.
First, it’s important to remember that before the invention of the railroad, time zones
weren’t really needed. If you traveled before railroads were invented, you traveled by...uh...walking.
Ya know, something we do now for “exercise.” If you were lucky, you might get to travel
by horse, or if you were even luckier you might get to travel by ship. But by the time
railroads were more common in the 1830s and into the 1840s, this made travel time way
faster and really screwed up communication about what time it was.
But the British had been thinking about this problem long before the railroads came. As
they established an empire around the world beginning in the 1600s, some back in London
realized they needed to standardize a way of measuring time to help mariners when they
were determining longitude when out at sea. So they’d reference wherever they were back
to London. It wasn’t until 1721, however, that Great Britain officially created its
own prime meridian, or Earth’s zero degrees longitude, passing through their newly established
Royal Observatory in Greenwich, a borough in London. Other countries established their
own prime meridian, of course, usually passing through THEIR capital cities and yeah they
called it different things. Like France. And China. See, they even published maps with
0 degree longitude running right through their capitals.
So just to be clear, the prime meridian also would establish something on the opposite
end of the globe, the 180 degree longitudinal line, called the International Date Line.
(holding up globe) That’s where today becomes tomorrow or today becomes yesterday. Like,
going west you add a day and going east you subtract a day.
Flash forward to the 1840s, and now we had railroads to worry about. At every railway
stop, the local time would be different. That, combined with the fact that a lack of standardized
time could lead to, I don’t know, two trains colliding or something, led to railroad companies
establishing the first time zones that matched their imaginary prime meridians that ran through
their capital cities. They also created these time zones due to the invention of the telegraph
being able to send messages far, far away by the way.
Still, of all these prime meridians, the British prime meridian got more respect, man. It was,
I guess, the PRIMEST of the prime, and a big reason why was this dude-Sir George Airy-who
used science and stuff to get a more accurate measurement. Great Britain established Greenwich
Mean Time based on Airy’s prime meridian, as the local solar time, or the local time
based on the position of the Sun in the sky. By the end of the 1850s, nearly every single
British citizen was measuring time in reference to Greenwich Mean Time.
But wait a second, what if a British person wanted to LEAVE their country? Like, if they
went to France their watch (holding up) would be totally wrong.
Well yes, like I said earlier, several different countries had already established their own
time zones, including France. Heck, giant railroad companies in both the United States
and Canada already had their own time zones going and were doing just fine and dandy...kind
of. But because the American and Canadian governments had stayed out of it, this often
led to confusion for ordinary folks trying to travel to and do business with different
parts of the world, the country, or even the county.
Well I’m assuming the Scottish Canadian inventor Sir Sandford Fleming was one of the
folks tired of being confused about what time it was all over the world, and he’s the
first one I could find that went around trying to convince the world all on the same page...or
uh...CLOCK, if you will. Credit to the Italian mathematician Quirico Filopanti who proposed
24 hourly time zones as well a few years prior. But it was Fleming who went around promoting
it, writing articles and books about it. He proposed the International Date Line I told
you about earlier, in this case opposite of the globe of the Greenwich Mean Time where
today becomes tomorrow. Well Fleming must have got the American government’s attention,
because they told President Chester Arthur to go hold an international convention on
the matter. In October 1884, he did just that, and representatives from 25 different countries
got together and agreed to pick ONE standard prime meridian that time zones would be based
off of.
And which one did they go with? Oh you already know, don’t you. I’m wasting your time
and my time telling you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.
They went with the primest of the prime, the one Sir George Airy established, Greenwich
Mean Time. GMT baby, the same one that passed through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich,
England. It became the international standard for the prime meridian, and thus the official
reference when measuring time around the world. Later, Coordinated Universal Time, aka UTC,
made these measurements even more precise.
And they all lived happily after. Well not really.
You see, many countries refused to immediately jump on board. Sure, they had some kind of
standard time zone, but only SOME of them used an hourly offset from GMT. I mean, take
France. They sure as heck weren't giving up THEIR Paris meridian, ya know what I’m sayin’?
They clung onto it for decades. Even today some salty French cartographers continue to
use it. It wasn’t until the 1920s that most countries started to use GMT. Heck, Liberia
didn’t adopt it until 1972. Liberia, come on.
Meanwhile, just because today the world is mostly on the same page when it comes to time
zones, that doesn’t mean that each country doesn’t screw things up entirely WITHIN
their borders.
Time zones are often skewed. Take China and India, the two most populous countries in
the world that also are big enough in land area to exceed the ideal 15 degrees of longitude
for one hour. Yeah, both countries have only one time zone. Crossing the border between
China and Afghanistan...yeah you forgot they bordered each other didn’t you...means 3
and a half hour change since China is 8 hours ahead of UTC and Afghanistan is 4 and a half
hours ahead of it. So crossing from Afghanistan into China would mean instantly losing 3 and
a half hours. Wait half an hour? Yeah some countries use standard time zones not to the
nearest hour, but to the nearest HALF-HOUR. Then there’s Russia, which has 11 time zones,
but just like that removed two of them in 2010, only to bring them back again in 2014.
And Australia, what the heck are you doing, Australia? Oh you just all think you can do
whatever you want, don’t you? There’s even an unofficial time zone called Australian
Central Western Standard Time, which is only in this small strip of land where it’s 8
and ¾ hours ahead of UTC, even though only about 200 people live in the area.
And then of course, in the Pacific Ocean, like these islands should logically be with
today but set their clocks to yesterday or tomorrow. And here it’s supposed to be today,
but it’s actually tomorrow. And don’t even get me started on freaking Daylight Saving
Time. I mean, what is going on with all this?
Well basically, due to geographical, political, and even social reasons, time zones often
are different from what international institutions recommend. In other words, governments ultimately
determine time zones, not scientists.
Man, time zones are more random than I previously thought. The more I think about it, though,
I wonder if we really need them? I mean, can’t I just call my friend who lives in another
part of the country and we both just agree that it’s the same time, regardless of where
the sun is in the sky? The sun is overrated anyway.
Well let me try calling a friend. (pick up tin can and call Nick) Hey Nick?
Nick: (fumbling over can) Hello? Yes? What time is it where you live?
Nick: 10:15 Well, it’s 9:15 where I live, and I think
this is messing up our collaboration. Nick: What do you suppose we do about this?
I don’t know. You’re the science teacher. Nick: If you’re asking me, I think time
zones are overrated. We don’t really need them anymore.
Go on! Nick: I will, but over on my channel. Maybe
you can tell your viewers to come on over when they’re done watching your video?
Oh sure. I’ll send them over. Does that mean it’s time for our conversation to end?
Nick: Yes, it’s time. Ok bye
Nick: See you next time
(hanging up tin can phone) So yeah, that was my friend Nick of the channel Science Asylum.
He just released a video asking the question “do we still need time zones?” I’ve
linked it in the description, so be sure to check it out when you’re done watching this
video. And spoiler alert, we don’t need time zones, but he goes into why.
In conclusion, time zones can be frustrating, but it’s how we have attempted to deal with
the fact that we can travel around the world much quicker than we used to and the fact
that we can now instantly communicate with others on the other side of the world. But
really, it’s about the fact that we are nostalgic for a time when we COULDN’T travel
around the world quickly or instantly communicate with others on the other side of the world.
You see, it’s all about perception. We want the sun to appear straight above us in the
sky at noon, and we want it to be completely dark out at 3am. It doesn’t have to be,
though, does it? Just like Christmas doesn’t have to be in the winter. Just ask anyone
in the Southern Hemisphere about that. But a lot of Northern Hemisphere folks would be
pretty darn upset if they never had a White Christmas.
So time zones are a way to adapt to modern technology while still clinging to the past.
And I gotta say, about time I made a video about time zones. (awkward pause) Ok now it’s
time for this video to wrap up.
But what do you think? Should time zones exist? Before you make up your mind, don’t forget
to check out Science Asylum’s video where he dives much deeper into the question of
whether or not we actually need time zones. And now, here’s my monthly shout out to
my Patreon supporters who donate at least $15 or more each month to my channel. Starting
with my $20 a month supporters,