Why is the clock based on 12 hours?

Anyway, as near as I can tell, the 12-hour clock goes way back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Egyptians used a 12-hour sundial to tell time during the daytime and a 12-hour water clock at night. Early mechanical clocks showed all 24 hours, but over time, clockmakers found the 12-hour system simpler and cheaper.

Do Europeans use 12-hour clock?

Analogue clocks in Europe still use a 12-hour format, that hasn’t changed and never will. Again, it’s because of (lack of) ambiguity as you can easily tell what time it is from a clock like that.

Why do travel businesses use a 24-hour clock rather than a 12-hour clock?

No need to ask or specify which eight it is: AM or PM. This eliminates any ambiguity related to repeating times in the 12 hour system. Much of the world uses 24 hour time, in part due to this simplicity.

What’s the difference between a 24-hour clock and a 12-hour clock?

The 12-hour clock runs from 1am to 12 noon and then from 1pm to 12 midnight. The 24-hour clock uses the numbers 00:00 to 23:59 (midnight is 00:00). They move onto reading the time to the quarter hour and then the nearest five minutes.

What countries use 12-hour time?

9) Eighteen (18) Countries use the 12-hour clock: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Ireland, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and U.S. (although the military uses the 24-hour clock).

Who decided there was 24 hours in a day?

Hipparchus
Hipparchus, whose work primarily took place between 147 and 127 B.C., proposed dividing the day into 24 equinoctial hours, based on the 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness observed on equinox days. Despite this suggestion, laypeople continued to use seasonally varying hours for many centuries.

Why is it important to use the 24hour clock?

In countries where the 12-hour clock is dominant, some professions prefer to use the 24-hour clock. For example, in the practice of medicine, the 24-hour clock is generally used in documentation of care as it prevents any ambiguity as to when events occurred in a patient’s medical history.

Why should we use a 24-hour clock to record time?

The 24 hour, or military clock, is widely used among scientists to avoid the confusion of the standard AM-PM system. 3. Mathematical manipulations are easier when using the 24 hour system. We tend to take time and our A.M.-P.M. system of marking time for granted.