We have different metrics internationally for length/distance, weights, temperature, etc. Why, as far as I know, is there only hours/minutes/seconds for the entire world? Not that I’m complaining, the alternative would be a huge pain in the a**, but I’m curious how that happened over time (sorry about the pun). TIA!
In: Physics
You do see many time measurement systems in history.
Unlike all of the other units of measurement, concepts of days and years are not arbitrary so it’s not surprising that they are almost universally defined identically in history.
The unit of time used to divide a day is arbitrary. A quick search shows that there were a number of different units used by cultures to divide a day. In ancient India, days were divided into 60 or 30 units. In Cambodia, days were divided into 4 units.
Day divisions of 12 come up in ancient Egypt, the middle east, Judaism and China. It’s even used in the 12 hour clock.
I wonder if the consistent divisions of a day into 12 units is not by chance and is related to the number of lunar cycles in a year.
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