eli5 Why do we have different time zones around the world, and how do they work?

Question

eli5 Why do we have different time zones around the world, and how do they work?

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Answer 1

The Earth is round, it rotates and only one side faces the sun at a time. There are twenty four time zones like bands around the earth, which chase the sun in steps of one hour to make sure that noon occurs approximately at 12:00 everywhere. Without zones people could have sunrise at arbitrary times like 23:00. Because we have learned to arrange our lives using clocks, and relying on daylight is important for energy savings and safety, clocks get adjusted to put daytime where we intuitively expect it to be.