Why are there 60 seconds in a minute ?
60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours... today, the division of time seems natural to us. But how did we get here? That's what we'll explore in this article:
The origin of the division of time
To find the origin of the division of time, and thus understand why there are 60 seconds in a minute, we must go back to ancient Egypt and Babylon, around 3000 BC. Based on observations of the phases of the moon, which last approximately 29 and a half days, our distant ancestors established the months. Egyptian astronomers also calculated, by observing the sky, that a year lasts 365 days. Around 2800 BC, the year was divided into three four-month seasons, and each month was composed of three ten-day weeks, which were later transformed into seven-day weeks, likely to allow workers to rest more often on the last day of the week, and also for religious reasons. In relation to this 12-month, 30-day calendar, the Babylonians and Greeks divided the circle into 360 degrees (12 times 30). Around 2200 BC, the Egyptians divided the day into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, likely because the year was already divided into 12 months. This meant that a summer day lasted longer than a winter day, and vice versa for the night. Consequently, minutes and seconds also had varying lengths. So, they hadn't yet adopted our traditional system of 60 seconds equaling a minute, and 60 minutes equaling an hour!
But then why 60 minutes and 60 seconds?
Because this base 60 was used by Babylonian astronomers for their calculations, who had noticed that 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, which is very convenient for making quarters, thirds.
Let's return to this circle divided into 360 degrees (12 times 30). When the first clocks were designed, a clock face being a circle, it was only natural that this ancient division into 12 was used to show the hours. Thus, a day consists of 24 hours, each hour of 60 minutes, and each minute of 60 seconds. You will no longer look at your watch in the same way.
Ingenious, isn't it?
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