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Asked by cherry16 to Amar, Matt on 21 Mar 2014.
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Amar Joshi answered on 21 Mar 2014:
The world is like a big ball. It spins at a constant rate and so one day (one complete rotation) last about 24hours. At midday here in England the sun will be high in the sky. If you shone a torch at a ball “midday” would be at the closest point to the torch, but the opposite side of the ball is in complete darkness – it is midnight!
The relative time in different countries is offset by a set amount compared to the time in London (this is because the concept of central time was first proposed in London). This takes into account the distance between places and so it will always be about 6am in the morning near sunrise, and 6pm near sunset. For example when it is midday here, in India it is dinner time while in Japan it will be bed time 9pm. In between Japan and USA there is a point where you go from being 12hours ahead of London time to 12 hours behind it!!
Hope that all make sense!!
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Matthew Lam answered on 21 Mar 2014:
Amar is correct, the rotation of the Earth dictates the time of day it is at any point on the planet based on where you are standing in relation to the sun (because we revolve around the sun).
What is really interesting is that the actual concept of time is man-made and doesn’t actually exist. Humans have created the method of counting time (days, weeks, seconds, hours etc.) as a way to structure day to day life and measure physical things such as acceleration or age.
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