Why is it that we officially start a new day at midnight instead of at dawn?
In: Other
Biggest issue with dawn is that each day would have a different length. Even if you just stay in one location. Dawn just makes it hard. It would also change when you move north/south. And some places don’t have dawn at times.
Starting with noon or midnight solved that problem. Noon is easy to measure, just put a vertical stick in the sand.
If you start at noon, then one activity period of humans is spread across two days. Midnight solves this problem.
After all this you still have to deal with longitude/time zones 🙂
If time is not exact, you can start the day whenever you want. Some cultures start the evening before. Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas for that reason.
Latest Answers