I know the length of a day is determined by the earth's rotation around the sun and that it really doesn't matter if there are 24 hours in a day, or 12 hours that are twice as long (following?) but who decided on 24 as the number of hours? Apparently, or so the theory goes, it was the ancient Egyptians who began the process (clever people huh?). They divided their nights into twelve segments based upon different star patterns that appeared throughout the night. Later in time the Greeks formalised the system by dividing daylight hours into twelve segments also. The 24 segments became known as equinoctial hours (based upon there being 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on days of equinoxes).
Monday, 28 June 2010
Why only 24 hours in a day??
I've been spending so much time adding designs to and trying to promote my Animatastic store on zazzle and the associated website I set up that I haven't had time for anything else recently. My ArtformTheHeart store desperately needs reorganising and I desperately need a life, so I was wondering why there are so few hours in the day - I think I need an extra 10!!! lol
I know the length of a day is determined by the earth's rotation around the sun and that it really doesn't matter if there are 24 hours in a day, or 12 hours that are twice as long (following?) but who decided on 24 as the number of hours? Apparently, or so the theory goes, it was the ancient Egyptians who began the process (clever people huh?). They divided their nights into twelve segments based upon different star patterns that appeared throughout the night. Later in time the Greeks formalised the system by dividing daylight hours into twelve segments also. The 24 segments became known as equinoctial hours (based upon there being 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on days of equinoxes).
I know the length of a day is determined by the earth's rotation around the sun and that it really doesn't matter if there are 24 hours in a day, or 12 hours that are twice as long (following?) but who decided on 24 as the number of hours? Apparently, or so the theory goes, it was the ancient Egyptians who began the process (clever people huh?). They divided their nights into twelve segments based upon different star patterns that appeared throughout the night. Later in time the Greeks formalised the system by dividing daylight hours into twelve segments also. The 24 segments became known as equinoctial hours (based upon there being 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on days of equinoxes).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I know how you feel. I never have enough time to get anything done.
Post a Comment