Why is it that we officially start a new day at midnight instead of at dawn?
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The only two consistent points in the day are when the sun is at its highest in the sky, and when it is at its lowest (the middle of the night – where you won’t be able to see it).
The other points of the day we can easily mark – sunrise and sunset) change throughout the year. At the equator they stay virtually the same year round, but the further north and south you go the more they will vary until you get so far north or south that there are entire periods of the year where the day is so long the sun wont set at all, or so short it will never rise.
So that means if you set 12 o’clock on the moment the sun rises, it would be different depending on how far north or south of the equator you were, and then vary some more based on which time zone you were in, and then vary some more again based on the season, and telling the time would be nearly impossible to track.
Because midnight and midday never move, they give us a nice consistent point to set our watches by, and setting the day to change at midnight is just a little more convenient as it happens when most people are asleep, rather than halfway through the day when everyone is working.
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