Tempus Fugit.<\/strong>
\nWe live in a digital world where metric \u2018kilos\u2019 are fast-replacing \u2018pounds\u2019. Yet time is still being recorded on an irregular calendar. Why? And who is responsible for seconds, minutes and a week being 24\/7?<\/p>\nToday we know that the Earth takes 365 and 1\/4 days to complete one orbit of our sun, a solar year. This is why we need leap year\u2019s every 4 years in order to balance out the spare quarters.
\nThe list below shows the length of time it takes the other planets in our Solar System to complete their year. As you travel further from the sun, the length of the orbit grows and therefore the year too is longer.<\/p>\n
The length of a year on each planet is:<\/strong><\/p>\nNeptune – 165 years
\nUranus – 84 years
\nSaturn – 29.4 years
\nJupiter – 12 years
\nMars – 687 Days
\nEarth – 365.25 Days
\nVenus – 225 Days
\nMercury – 88 Days<\/p>\n
A day on each planet is calculated by measuring the time it takes a planet to complete a rotation on its axis through 360\u00b0. But you might be surprised by how long a day on each of these planets actually lasts.
\nThe length of a day on each planet is:<\/strong>
\nMercury 1,408 Hours
\nVenus 5,832 Hours
\nEarth 24 Hours
\nMars 25 Hours
\nJupiter 10 Hours
\nSaturn 11 Hours
\nUranus 17 Hours
\nNeptune 16 Hours<\/p>\nBut how do we further divide days and years?
\nHaving established how a day or a year is calculated we move on to how they are measured. In a digital world, where the majority of our day to day life is measured in multiples of 10, why is it that a year is divided into twelve months? Why are there 24 hours in a day? To understand how we measure time we have to go back over 3,000 years to the Phoenicians.
\nWho first decided how we should measure time?<\/strong>
\nThe Phoenicians called modern day Syria their home and were renowned traders. There is evidence that they were regular visitors to the British Isles where they traded for tin. The Phoenicians were among the earliest astronomers and used the stars to navigate. A navigational tablet would have been a prized and vital tool for any sailor. It was the Enigma machine of its day and gave the Phoenicians their edge.
\nThe Phoenicians became the middlemen that enabled trade between the various countries they visited. As they were the common link between nations, it stands to reason that the Phoenician methods of measuring and even of communication would be adopted by those nations. While the Phoenicians all but vanished from existence in around 500 BCE, their skills as astronomers, navigators and traders have left a lasting legacy. Today, the entire world calculates time using the methods and the measurements that were developed by the Phoenicians in 1,500 BCE.
\nAs traders, the Phoenicians developed a maths system to measure things, but they did not use fractions. They decided to use a duo-decimal maths system, based around the number 12. It gave them more flexibility to divide cargo.
\nUsing 12 as the base number, items can be divided into half units (6), quarter units (3), one third units (4), one sixth units (2) and one twelfth units (1).
\nWith the number 10 it can only be divided by 5 and by 2, therefore items can only be classed as whole units (10), half units (5), one fifth units (2) and one tenth units (1).
\nThis is the reason the number 12 became so significant. The Phoenicians applied this system to their measurement of time as they divided both their days and their nights into 12 units each. This is the origin of our 24 hour day.
\nAfter the number 12, the next significant number for the Phoenicians was 60. It is thought that the origin lies in an early sign language, similar to the that used by bookies at modern day race tracks. A ship\u2019s captain could communicate with a harbour master on the dock. If he held up his hand it meant 5 (fingers) times 12 – indicating 60. If he flashed his hand 5 times it meant 5 times 60 – or 300. This is why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour.
\nBut when it came to other measurements, the Phoenicians were often guilty of making their maths fit the problem.
\nThe equilateral triangle has 3 equal sides and 3 equal angles. All are measured at 60\u00b0, as per the Phoenician\u2019s maths. No problem there. The Phoenicians then saw that six equilateral triangles could be laid together to form the centre of a circle. They saw that 6 x 60 = 360, which is why circles contain 360\u00b0. So far, so good. The problems arose when the Phoenicians tried to apply their maths to the universe. They made the facts fit the figures. Because the Phoenicians were so proud of their maths they assumed that a year must also measure 360 days.
\nThe 12 lunar cycles in most calendar years also fit neatly with Phoenician maths and are the basis for our 12 months.
\nEach lunar cycle has 4 phases. On average, each phase lasts 7 days. This is the basis for our 7 day week.
\nSo far, we have explained the origin of:
\n60 seconds in a minute
\n60 minutes in an hour
\n24 hours in a day
\n7 days in a week
\n4 weeks in a month
\n12 months in a year<\/p>\nBut why do we still use these measurements today when so much else of our history has changed? We need to look at who followed the Phoenicians.
\nWhen the Phoenicians were conquered by Alexander The Great it started the Greek Empire\u2019s dominance of the Mediterranean.
\nThe Greeks adopted much of the culture of the nations it conquered and adapted it to create their own history. For example, the Phoenician and Babylonian God \u2018Baal\u2019 was changed to become the Greek\u2019s \u2018Zeus\u2019. But the one thing that the Greek\u2019s would not change was the Phoenician technique for navigation. In order to use Phoenician navigation which was determined by the position of the stars at different times of the year, the Greeks had to use the Phoenician calendar.
\nHowever, the Greeks knew that the figure of 360 days in a year could not be right. But rather than start everything again from scratch, they chose a simpler solution.Greek history was recorded in four year terms called Olympiads. Every four years, when they held their Olympics, they reset the calendar to account for the missing days.
\nThe Greek empire subsequently fell to the Romans. Just as the Greeks had done before them, the Romans adopted and adapted Greek ideology, theology and science. For example Zeus became Jupiter, Ares became Mars and Poseidon became Neptune.
\nThe Romans also adopted the Phoenician \/ Greek calendars. But they too realised that there was an issue with regard to missing days. As a result, the Romans had a flexible approach to calendars. Their months were divided into sections like \u2019Nones\u2019 and \u2019Ides\u2019, and each year their astronomers would move the length of months around to suit their calendar. It meant that the number of days in each month would vary from year to year. Like the Greeks, the Romans \u2018reset\u2019 their calendar every four years. A four year \u2018Imperium\u2019 was the term of office for their elected officials.
\nThe Roman or Julian calendar (named for Julius Caesar) despite its numerous flaws, was still widely used for centuries. Over time the Gregorian calendar was gradually adopted by different nations. Initially this caused much confusion, for example, the Russian \u2019October\u2019 revolution of 1917 would have been the UK\u2019s breaking news in March 1917. Turkey was the final country to adopt the Gregorian calendar in 1927. But while the calendar may have changed, the units of seconds, hours, days, weeks and months are still the intellectual property of Phoenicia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The clocks go forward this weekend, maybe for the last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[78,105,263,470],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-british-summer-time","tag-clocks","tag-magazine-articles","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}