Why is reference to longitude required to calculate time?

Answer 1

There is no reference point. For lattitude, you can use the angle of the North Star or Southern Cross, but since the earth rotates to the east, there are no heavenly bodies that have a constant angle above the east or west horizon.

Answer 2

Reference to longitude is required to calculate time because time zones are based on longitudinal lines on the Earth's surface. As the Earth rotates, different longitudes experience sunrise and sunset at different times. By knowing the longitude of a location, you can determine the time difference from a reference point (such as Greenwich, UK) and calculate local time accurately.

Answer 3

You should really ask' Why do you you use time to measure longitude'?. If you are moving around the globe in a ship or aircraft you carry an accurate clock with you that has been set to the noon time of your home port or point of departure. Supposing you left from 0 degree longitude at Midday. You then move West and note when the sun reaches it's zenith or highest point at noon. If there is 1 hour difference between your ship's chronometer, set when you left, and your present time then you must be 1/24th of the way round the globe because there are 24 hours in a day. 360/24 =15 degrees West from port.

Answer 4

The earth, which is a sphere (A sphere is basically a circle in 3 dimensions instead of two), makes one complete rotation on it's axis every 24 hrs.

The Earth is 360 degrees around. A day is 24 hours. As a result, over the course of an hour, any longitudinal point on the earth surface rotates 15% with respect to the sun. By dividing the Earth into 24 15 degree time zones, you have one zone for each of the 24 hrs.

Answer 5

there are different time zones throughout the world. the longitude helps determine the time by finding your location and time zone. if you dont know anything about time zones, then Google it! (Im not wikipedia)

Answer 6

Because that is it's definition.

In a similar vein, latitude is the name given to the measurement in degrees north

or south (of the equator), height is measured in any unit of length vertically, and

width is measured in any length unit horizontally.

Answer 7

Because aboard ship ... without GPS or any way to do a land survey ...

the measurement of longitude requires observing the stars AND knowing

the time in your port city accurately. So the seafarer's knowledge of his

true position at sea depended on the long-term accuracy of the clock

he carried, starting at the time he left port. This is actually a big deal.

Today, you can get a toy wristwatch for about $1.50 that's far more

accurate than anything they had available at that time. Think of it ...

if the Vikings, or Columbus, or the Spanish Armada, had had your toy

electric made-in-China Barbie-doll wristwatch, the history of the world

over the past ten Centuries would have been different.

Answer 8

Longitude is measured in degrees. It is often paired with latitude to find a certain coordinates on the map of the world.

Answer 9

There wasn't a way to accurately tell time at sea until the 1720s when the first portable clock was used. Time is essential in determining longitude.

Answer 10

There is a direct correlation between the longitude of a place and the time at which the sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from that place.