Why are there 60 seconds in a minute ?
Have you ever, while looking at your watch, Have you ever wondered why a minute has 60 seconds, and an hour 60 minutes? To find the answer, we have to travel back in time to 3000 BC, to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
1. The Moon, the Sun, and the first calendars
-
The months: Our ancestors first observed the phases of the Moon, whose cycle lasts approximately 29 and a half days, thus laying the foundations of the month.
-
The year: Egyptian astronomers calculated that a year lasted 365 days. Around 2800 BC, they divided it into 3 seasons of 4 months, themselves composed of three weeks of ten days.
- The 7-day week: These ten-day weeks were eventually replaced by seven-day cycles, mainly for religious reasons and to provide workers with a more frequent day off.
2. The mystery of "elastic" hours
Around 2200 BC, the Egyptians decided to divide the day into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, echoing the 12 months of the year.
However, like the duration Day/Night It varied according to the seasons; a summer hour lasted longer than a winter hour (and vice versa for the night). Minutes and seconds of that era therefore had a completely variable duration! We were still a long way from our rigorous modern clock.
Why is the number 60 king?
The secret to our 60 minutes and 60 seconds comes from the Babylonians.
-
Base 60: Babylonian astronomers used this system for their mathematical calculations because 60 is extremely divisible (by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). A valuable asset for easily dividing time or space into thirds or quarters.
- The 360-degree circle: In line with their 12-month, 30-day calendar (i.e. 12x30), the Babylonians and the Greeks divided the circle into 360 degrees.
From geometry to the watch face
When the first clocks were invented, it was only natural to use this 360-degree circle to shape the dial, adopting the ancient division by 12 for the hours.
That is how the day became fixed in 24 hours, each hour in 60 minutes, and each minute in 60 seconds.
Ingenious, isn't it?
Read more
Have you ever wondered how it's possible to read the time on your watch even in the dark? All the answers to your questions are in this article.
Waiting 100 years is already a very long time... Waiting 107 years then seems like an eternity! But how did this expression come about and where does it come from?
