Time! We all have to live by it, and sometimes we wish we could have more of it – but have you ever thought about how it works? Why is it suppertime here and breakfast time in Australia? Who decided these rules, anyway? Well, you’re in luck – these amazing facts about time zones will reveal all! And if you’re inspired to travel the world after reading these, you can start with some of our other amazing facts! Why not learn all about Mexico, Poland, and China!

1. Time zones are split by imaginary lines

…that’s LINES, not LIONS (easy mistake to make)! These lines go from the North Pole to the South Pole (that’s called a longitude), and they’re not always straight, because they need to match country borders.

2. There are 24 time zones

One for each hour of the day! Between each time zone the minutes will always be same, even though the hours are different – so, if it’s half past the hour where you are, it will be half past the hour everywhere else in the world!

3. It’s to do with the rotation of the earth

You might be thinking to yourself – why do we have different time zones? Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we all used the same time? Well, no it wouldn’t, because that would mean some people had to get up in the middle of the night! The sun moves across the Earth, creating daylight at different hours, because the Earth turns once every 24 hours. When you’re going to bed in the UK, a kid in Florida might be coming home from school, while a kid in Australia is just waking up the next day! So, it makes a lot of sense to divide time zones up. Creating the lines was a little more complicated, though!

4. It all starts in London

There’s another imaginary line that runs through the middle of the Earth. It’s called the Prime Meridian, and you can go and see it at Greenwich Observatory in London! This line, running from the North to the South pole, covers 20,000 km, passes through 8 countries (plus Antarctica), is the “zero” of the world. It’s the first time zone, the first degree in longitude, and the place where all new days, months and years start! The Observatory was founded by Charles II in 1675, as a way of establishing time zones at sea. At this time a lot of important trade happened by boat, but telling the time and your location at sea was quite tricky. Astronomers established the passage of stars in relation to the sea, which helped to create a series of timezones.  

5. Railways led to the creation of fixed time zones

As the years passed, science and technology became more advanced, and the world became more connected. With the growth of the railways, and the invention of telegram technology, it became very inconvenient to for places to have their own daylight hours. Imagine trying to plot a train timetable across the entire USA when time was a local matter at every station! This actually caused a big accident in 1853. Two trains in Rhode Island collided, killing 14 passengers, because the conductors had different times set on their watches. Different times in different towns can also lead to smaller mishaps, like missing your train between your watch is six minutes slower than the station clock. Standardized time zones across the world makes travel and communication easier and safer!

6. We change our timezones!

You probably know that we turn the clocks forwards and backwards in the spring and in the autumn. This is so that we can have as much daylight as possible in the winter months, which is better for our schedules and for our mental and physical health. It can also help save energy, as we won’t be using electricity if we’re awake in the light. In the UK we go one hour forward for British Summer Time every year. It’s debated how useful Daylight Savings actually is, and some countries don’t bother with it at all though. The USA has Daylight Savings in every state but two, Arizona and Hawaii! This is because both states get VERY hot, and going out in the dark is more convenient for the people who live there. Some Australian states also don’t observe DST for the same reason.

7. Some countries have more than one!

Some countries are so big, they need more than one time zone! Russia has the largest landmass in the world, so it makes sense that it has the most time zones, clocking it at eleven. Since 2011 though it has only used nine of these zones, for political reasons. The USA has five time zones on its main landmass, but eleven time zones including all its islands and territories. This can cause problems with national broadcasting – if you watch the TV in the USA, you might notice that TV shows that are broadcast across the whole country will have several different start times advertised!

8. Spain’s timezone is one hour off

Strictly speaking, Spain should really be in the same time zone as the UK – but if you’ve ever been there, you’ll notice it’s an hour ahead! This was changed back in 1940, when Spain’s fascist dictator changed to Germany’s time zone to show support for Adolf Hitler. It’s never changed back, which means that the sun rises and sets later in Spain than in the countries surrounding it. Shops and restaurants often stay open late in Spain, to accommodate these hours.  

9. France has the most time zones!

France has the most time zones of any country in the world – but only by a technicality! All of mainland France is in one time zone, but the country claims a lot of overseas territory, including islands in French Polynesia, the West Indies, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific. If you count all those, it gives France twelve time zones in total!

10. What’s the time at the North Pole?

The North Pole and South pole are the places where all the timelines meet – so, how do you tell the time there? Well, they don’t have official time zones – but it’s not a huge problem as there are no permanent residents at the extreme of either pole, and certainly no trains to co-ordinate. Most people who might be found near the Poles are research scientists working at specially-built bases. At the north, they follow the time zones of the countries they are in. In Antarctica, which is very far from any permanent settlements, they usually stick to their home country’s time, or that of New Zealand, which is the nearest country. 

11. What’s the time in space?

There aren’t any days in space, so how on earth (or NOT on earth!) do astronauts know what time it is! The answer is actually pretty simple – the International Space Station uses Greenwich Mean Time! When you’re settling down to supper, an astronaut might just be doing the same thing!

12. Greenland is the same timezone as the UK!

Greenland is about 2,571 km from the UK – but despite this, part of eastern Greenland uses GMT! This tiny part of the country contains a weather station named Danmarkshavn. You probably wouldn’t want to go their for your hols, as it can drop to -40 degrees Celsius in the winter.

13. China only has one timezone!

China is a HUGE country, over 9.6 million square kilometres large with over 1.4 billion residents – but it only has one time zone! It used to have five, but this was standardized into Beijing Standard Time in 1949. This means that the sun doesn’t rise until 10am in parts of the West, and the sun doesn’t set until midnight in summer in the East!

14. Jet lag is worse when you fly west to east!

What’s the worst thing about hopping time zones as you travel? Jet lag, of course! This is the fatigue you feel you’re your body is adjusting to suddenly being in a different time zone. Well-travelled readers might have noticed this, but when you’re skipping time zones you’ll often feel much worse after flying from the west! This is because travelling west just extends the day, while going east goes against your body’s natural clock.

15. There are some interesting anomalies out there!

You might have noticed that a lot of these facts about time zones could lead to some interesting anomalies. Like, if a big country like China only uses one time zone, what happens in bordering countries with different time zones? The answer is that they can end up hours apart – China and Afghanistan share a 47-mile border, but they’re three and a half hours apart! There are also very small places with different time zones, like the tiny uninhabited island of Märket in the Baltic sea, which has two time zones because it’s split between Finland and Sweden! Or, if you’re a party animal who wants to game the system, why not celebrate your birthday twice? Start off in Samoa (GMT +13), then fly across the International Date Line to American Samoa (GMT -11) a cool 30 miles away and enjoy your second party!