Chapter 2: Our Natural Environment

Distance and Time

Years ago, communities across the world set their clocks according to the sun. When the sun was at its highest point, it was noon.

In the 1800s, communication started to improve with the invention of the telephone, the construction of highways, and new railroads. Time distance, the time it takes to get between two points, was shrinking. It started to be problematic as people could now communicate with others all over the world in an instant. How would you know what time it was in other parts of the world?

In 1879, Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian surveyor, engineer, and scientist suggested that the globe be divided into 24 time zones.

Important Time Zone Facts:

o Lines of longitude are used to mark time zones. o Each time zone is 15° wide, the distance the sun travels in one hour. o The Prime Meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England, is the 0° longitude location or starting point where time zones are measured east and west of that line. o Time zones to the East are one hour ahead, and time zones to the West are one hour behind. o At 180° longitude, you will find the International Date Line. The time is the same on both sides of this line, but the day is different. As we travel west over it, it is one day later. As we travel east over this line, we "gain a day."

A time zone map tells you the time in different parts of the word. Canada has a total of six time zones:

Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) 3 1/2 hours from Greenwich Atlantic Standard Time (AST) 4 hours from Greenwich meridian Eastern Standard Time (EST) 5 hours from Greenwich meridian Central Standard Time (CST) 6 hours from Greenwich meridian Mountain Standard Time (MST) 7 hours from Greenwich meridian Pacific Standard Time (PST) 8 hours from Greenwich meridian