Why do world travellers suffer from a jet lag? Why do some parts of the globe is considered five hours ahead, five hours behind, 2 hours ahead, or two hours behind? What is the basis for such conclusion? What is the rolse of a local time zone? Does current local time play a huge role in dealing with other individuals across the globe?
If you live in the United States and you have a friend that lives in Europe, communicating with him or her can be tricky. Why is it tricky? It is tricky because the United States and Europe belong to two different time zones. What does this mean? This means that there will be a great difference when it comes to the "time of the day". The same thing can be said about other countries belonging to a different time zone like the Philippines or China or Singapore. All these countries have different times compared to each other and compared to the United States or Europe.
In a specific hour or time of day, these countries have their own local time. This is the time of day that the people in that particular place follow. Unless the two countries belong to the same time zone, there is a big chance that their respective times will vary from one another. However, how did each country came up with their own local time. How were time zones created? Who decided what country should belong to one particular time zone? How was the concept of time formulated? Who came up with the idea of time zones?
When it comes to this particular topic, time and time zones, there are no easy way answers. To understand the concept of time and then relate it to time zones, it is important to understand how it began in the first place.
According to ancient history, it was the Greeks that developed the concept of time and time zones. Greeks observed how the sun rises and falls during a day. They then divided the whole globe into 360 parts or degrees. These divisions are marked by meridians or longitudinal lines on the map. Therefore, a day is equivalent to one complete rotation of the earth on its axis with the earth rotating to about 15 degrees every hour.
Every 15 degrees is then equivalent to a different time zone. The prime meridian or the longitudinal line bearing 0 degrees runs through the city of Greenwich England hence the term Greenwich Mean Time, which is one of the many time zones around the globe. The time zones will now serve as a guide that you can use whenever you need to communicate with someone who lives half-way accross the globe. This will make it easier for you to decide whether it is the right time to call them or if you should call later in the day, this should be based on their local time. Therefore, if they live in Paris, you must base your decision to call according to the paris local time.