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The history of time in a nutshell

Posted Mar 26, 2007 at 07:02AM by Glen D. Listed in: Mathematics, Archaeology
Ó

If you ever wondered why we have 24 hours in a day, 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, you can look at early civilizations for the answer. We owe it all to the Egyptians, Babylonians and the Sumerians.

egyptian - Image 1 


In the early ages of humanity, night and day was treated as separate realms of time and were not thought of as part of a greater whole. It's uncertain why 12 was the number used to divide night and day into smaller increments, but the generally accepted theories are either it was based on the 12 annual cycles of the moon or the 12 joints in each hand.

Using a sundial which evolved from a crude stick in the ground to a T-shaped rod to a water clock, the concept of time was generated. Night, however, was a different story because there was no sun to use for the sundial and the moon wasn't always there. Luckily, there are 12 stars that appear and disappear in the course of hours to base the foundation of a 24-hour day.

The Egyptians were then able to develop the water clock that supplemented the calculation of seconds and hours developed by the Sumerians and inherited by Babylonians. The system was sexadecimal and based on the number 60. It's still a puzzle to historians and archaeologists why that was their magic number, but they have a good guess - 60 is easily divisible by the first six numbers.

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4 Comments


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   by w00t - 2007-03-26
 » What? 23 hours?
If you ever wondered why we have [B]23[/B] hours in a day, 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, you can look at early civilizations for the answer. We owe it all to the Egyptians, Babylonians and the Sumerians.

What kind of sense does that make?

   by Advertising -
   by hjhghj (Unregistered) - 2007-03-26
 » gjhgj
what the hell 23 hours in a day

better crorrect this asap o_O

   by Blahger (Unregistered) - 2007-03-26
 » Ah, yes
I too have pondered the rationale for having 23 hours in a day. I crunched some numbers and I believe I discovered a breakthrough on time, and counting it. I still have some tests to do, but ~24 hours in a day could very well revolusionize the way mankind kind tells time!

   by Rica M. (QJ. NET Staff) - 2007-03-26
 » Thanks!
Corrected that typo.



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