Planet Earth moves in orbit around the Sun, which heats the planet and provides the necessary light to plants and living creatures that depend on photosynthesis. But the Sun disappears behind the horizon from time to time, then appears again. Moreover, even the day when it shines is not the same everywhere. In one place on the planet the Sun is at its zenith, while in another it is inclined towards the horizon.
The planet's time zone system
To accurately record time, humanity had to be divided into time zones. These are zones that correspond to 1/24 (according to the number of hours in a day) of the length of the parallel at a particular latitude. Less common are zones with a difference of thirty minutes in relation to the neighboring zone. Below is a table of world time zones and the difference with Moscow. The time zone of the Greenwich Observatory in the UK is taken as the reference point.
In Russia, as the largest country in the world, there are eleven such time zones. The countdown begins from the westernmost point, Kaliningrad, and continues to Moscow, where the time difference with Greenwich is three hours. In Magadan, the easternmost time zone, the difference with Greenwich is already twelve hours.
Overview of time differences in time zones
The table of the difference between the world's time zones and Moscow will show how large the distances are on Earth and how different the time of day can be even within the same country. Each time zone has its own name. The table of time zones of the world also shows time zones where the time difference is not an even hour, but half. This is due to the historical features of state borders and time recording.
| Timezone | Where applicable (main points) | Difference with Moscow |
| -12 | -15 | |
| -11 | Samoa | -14 |
| -10 | Aleutian Islands | -13 |
| -9 | Alaska | -12 |
| -8 | California | -11 |
| -7 | Arizona | -10 |
| -6 | Central America | -9 |
| -5 | Cuba | -8 |
| -4 | Venezuela | -7 |
| -3:30 | Newfoundland | -6:30 |
| -3 | Brazil | -6 |
| -2 | Atlantic Ocean | -5 |
| -1 | Azores | -4 |
| 0 | Great Britain | -3 |
| +1 | Western Europe | -2 |
| +2 | Eastern Europe | -1 |
| +3 | Russia | 0 |
| +3:30 | Iran | +0:30 |
| +4 | Azerbaijan | +1 |
| +4:30 | Afghanistan | +1:30 |
| +5 | Kazakhstan | +2 |
| +5:30 | India | +2:30 |
| +5:45 | Nepal | +2:45 |
| +6 | Bangladesh | +3 |
| +6:30 | Myanmar | +3:30 |
| +7 | Mongolia | +4 |
| +8 | China | +5 |
| DPRK | +5:30 | |
| +8:45 | Australia | +5:45 |
| +9 | Japan | +6 |
| +9:30 | Australia | +6:30 |
| +10 | Papua New Guinea | +7 |
| +10:30 | Australia | +7:30 |
| +11 | Solomon islands | +8 |
| +12 | Marshall Islands | +9 |
| +12:45 | New Zealand | +9:45 |
| +13 | Kiribati | +10 |
| +14 | Kiribati | +11 |
Line where dates change
As can be seen from the table of the difference in time zones between the world and Moscow, there are also such subtleties as a 24-hour time difference in areas that are several kilometers from each other. For example, residents of the Magadan region, whose clock shows twelve o'clock in the afternoon, on the first of January can look into the past year through binoculars, since in Alaska it will be the thirty-first of December. Between the time zones UTC+12 and UTC-12 there is a line that delimits the dates. The table of the difference between time zones of the world and Moscow indicates a deviation from Moscow time of +8 and -15 hours, respectively. Traveling through from west to east, you can get into a day that has already been lived, while returning from east to west, you can get into the future one day.
Features of time zones
Theoretically, time zones should be smooth, like the Earth's meridians. But that's not true. You cannot force half a city or region to live by one time, and half by another. For a single, integral economic and territorial system, synchronous work is important, therefore, within small states, in the ocean, the time zone either expands or contracts, repeating the administrative boundaries of the territories. In addition to such deviations, there is a separate group of territories where the time deviation from the neighboring time zone is thirty or even forty-five minutes. These zones are also indicated in the table of the difference in time zones between the world and Moscow. Such time zones have developed historically; they are not related to the astronomy of a particular region.
Apart from regions with their own non-standard standard time, time zones above 60 degrees north latitude do not respect natural formal boundaries, since they are less populated and in these latitudes the lighting conditions are not the same as in Moscow. Such phenomena as polar day and polar night already begin there.
Time zones of Russia: features
From the table of the time difference between the world's time zones and Moscow, it can be seen that Russia occupies a significant number of time zones, as many as eleven. Despite reforms and adjustments to time zones, their number will always be eleven, as this is an astronomically determined necessity. But time zone boundaries are constantly changing. In modern Russia, they are tied to economically closed administrative entities, regions, territories, for which work in a single time space is important. Time zones are not just lines on a map. Compliance with standard time when calculating energy resource savings gives enormous numbers. If the time zone of the Moscow region is moved even by an hour, then the entire country will lose billions of rubles. Because the indicated difference in time zones of the world with Moscow in the table is just useful information. In the modern world, dials with Moscow time hang on all world exchanges for the correct synchronization of trading on these exchanges.
Why do you need to know the time of another time zone?
In modern Russia, which is closely integrated into the global economy, knowledge of time zones is important in every industry. Tables of the difference between time zones of the world and Moscow for some professions are a reference book. Numerous purchasing managers working with Chinese suppliers understand that calling Shanghai at the end of the working day in Moscow is stupid, since it is already late at night in China. And calling the USA at the beginning of the Moscow working day is also not worth it. There are many amazing things on planet Earth, and such as time zones, date lines, etc. only emphasize the uniqueness and complexity of life, dictated by global Such as the movement of the Earth relative to the Sun and the height of geographic latitude, which underlie the calculation of time by all mankind.
Planet Earth, rotating around its axis, is illuminated by the Sun at different times in different areas, so noon occurs at its own time for everyone. In order to take these time differences into account, time zones were invented.
How many time zones are there in the world?
There are two concepts of time zones:
- Geographical. These are conditional stripes - meridians that have width and divide the earth's surface. How many time zones are there on Earth? There are 24 of them in total. The zero meridian is considered to be the one passing through the London Greenwich Observatory.
- Administrative. They are also called time zones. Each of them has its own standard time established by law. These are areas of the earth's surface formed taking into account the rotation of the planet Earth and having the same local time. They differ next from the previous one by an hour. How many time zones are there in the world? There are 24 of them, respectively. They practically coincide with geographical time zones. And the starting point is also the Greenwich meridian. And time within its zone is usually called “world time”. The countdown goes from west to east.
The boundaries of time zones pass along major rivers, administrative and interstate boundaries.
Changeover between summer and winter time
There is also a system for changing between summer and winter time. In the first case - an hour ahead, and in the second - an hour ago. European Union countries, as well as Türkiye, Egypt and many others use it. And Russia and most CIS countries have recently abandoned this system. This is due to the fact that there is a lot of evidence of its harmful effects on human health.
Stability of time is much more useful; it does not harm the human biological clock. There is no need to adapt to a new sleep-wake schedule. In addition, there is no need to change schedules and reconfigure equipment for enterprises and transport services.
History of the introduction of time zones
Until the mid-19th century, each large city lived according to its own time. And the villages and small towns located next to it were equal to it. Back then we lived according to the Sun. In those days, there was no such high-speed transport as trains and planes. They rode horses and carts, and such transport cannot cover such a long distance as to cover several time zones. This means that determining time by shadow was acceptable.
When they began to build railways and launched the first trains, everything immediately changed. Trains traveled so quickly that it became difficult to create accurate timetables for them. It was difficult to find out when each of them would arrive at one or another station, significantly distant from the point of departure. When sending telegrams, it was difficult to calculate the time so that the message arrived on time.
European countries solved this problem in their own way. They all began to live according to the same time. It was tied to the solar time of the main city. The railways and telegraphs of the Russian Empire operated according to St. Petersburg time. And individual cities continued to count down their numbers.
The countries of the New World, as America was called at that time, were plunged into complete confusion. All the railway companies there worked on their own time. And each of the states lived in its own way. As a result, big problems arose in those cities where the railway lines of different companies ran.
The solution to the problem appeared later. Canadian engineer Sandford Fleming worked on the railroad all his life. He laid lines between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and, by coincidence, missed the train in 1976. After this, the engineer decided to definitely find a solution to the problem of keeping time around the world.
During a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute, which took place on February 8, 1879, Sandford Fleming proposed dividing the entire surface of the globe into 24 zones. This idea was not taken seriously. But he continued to promote it until 1884. The International Meridian Conference took place in October. Representatives from 25 countries attended. The Washington Convention on Time Zones and Universal Time was adopted there. The concept of standard time was introduced. The Greenwich meridian was taken as the zero meridian. It became the starting point for longitude on sea and geographical maps. But despite Fleming’s repeated proposals to consolidate the division into time zones in this convention, this issue was not even put to a vote.
The process of introducing time zones began with the United States and Canada, and several decades passed until all countries in the world adopted standard time. It was completed in the 20s of the XX century. The reason for this protracted process was the outburst of signs of self-government in some countries and cities. Now it seems funny, but then people fought for the fact that solar time is much more convenient and more accurate than standard time. Despite the difference in minutes, the heads of cities did not want to switch to it.
Also, the boundaries of the meridians have been moved many times. There have been cases where some cities were divided into two time zones and had a time difference of one hour.
After the collapse of the USSR, the newly formed republics spent a long time deciding which time zone they would belong to and whether they would make the transition to summer/winter time.
Time zones of countries
Let's find out how many time zones the largest countries in the world are divided into.
Oddly enough, France covers the maximum number of time zones. The country itself is located within one meridian, but together with its islands it occupies 12 time zones.
The United States of America occupies 11 time zones.
The Russian Federation is currently located in 9 time zones. You can read more about this in the article on our website about how many time zones there are in Russia ().
Version of the functionality "Checking time and determining the time zone of a workstation" for the end user. Theory on Earth's time zones. Formation of administrative time zones. Time zone maps. This simple functionality will allow you to quickly determine whether the date and time is set correctly on the user's workstation, as well as determine the time zone (time zone).
If you want to know your time zone, check the radio button "yes" and then click the "Run process" button.
The results obtained can be seen in the table below.
The process has begun... Please wait...
Map of time zones (to get a better image, click on the map anywhere):
A little theory on the topic of time zones and time zones.
A geographic time zone is a conventional strip on the earth's surface exactly 15° wide (± 7.5° relative to the middle meridian). The Greenwich meridian is considered the middle meridian of the zero time zone.
Administrative time zone (time zone) is a section of the earth's surface on which a certain standard time is established.
Here we mean and use administrative time zones, which can differ significantly from geographical ones.
The formation of administrative time zones (time zones, time zones, time zones) is associated with the goal of identifying territories with approximately the same local time so that the time differences between them are multiples of one hour. It was agreed that there should be 24 administrative time zones and each of them should roughly coincide with a geographic time zone. The starting point was the Greenwich meridian, (prime meridian, middle meridian) of the zero time zone.
Nowadays, time is set using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which was introduced to replace Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The UTC scale is based on the uniform atomic time scale (TAI) and is more convenient for civilian use. Time zones around the globe are expressed as positive and negative offsets from UTC. (Negative offsets for time zones west of the prime meridian, positive offsets to the east.)
The modern time zone system is based on Coordinated Universal Time, on which the time of all time zones depends. In order not to enter local time for each degree (or each minute) of longitude, the Earth's surface is conventionally divided into 24 time zones. When moving from one time zone to another, the values of minutes and seconds (time) are preserved, only the value of the hours changes. There are some countries in which local time differs from world time not only by a whole number of hours, but also by an additional 30 or 45 minutes. These time zones are not standard time zones.
Theoretically, the 24 time zones of the globe should be limited by meridians passing 7 ° 30 "east and west of the middle meridian of each zone, and universal time operates around the Greenwich meridian. But in reality, to maintain a uniform time within the same administrative or natural unit, zone boundaries are shifted relative to the meridians; in some places, some time zones even “disappear”, getting lost between neighboring ones.
At the North and South Poles, the meridians converge at one point, and therefore the concept of time zones, and at the same time local time, loses its meaning there.
Difference in time, Time Zones and others time paradoxes can be quite funny. You can go to or in just one step! How? You will find the answer to this question in this article.
In the Pacific Ocean, along the 180th meridian there is a so-called . If you cross this line from east to west, then you will immediately find yourself in tomorrow, but if in the other direction, then you will find yourself in the past. This is how it is possible to travel in time 24 hours forward or backward. At this point, the present is not a very precise concept of time.
Fact 2: Longest time step.
The Afghan-Chinese border is famous for its time difference regarding the countries shared by it. If you are in Afghanistan and crossed the border, that is, into China, then you can and even need to move the clock hands 3.5 hours forward! This could be a three and a half hour step!
There are many legends about the Himalayas and this place is considered mystical by many. Let's look at this mountain range in time, that is, how it changes over 1000 kilometers. If a traveler decides to overcome them, then he must set the time as many as 6 times: 15 minutes forward when crossing the Indo-Nepal border, then 15 minutes back when crossing the Nepal-Indian border, 150 minutes ahead on the Indo-Chinese border, and 150 minutes ahead on the Chinese-Chinese border. On the Bhutanese border 2 hours back, then back again by half an hour (Bhutan-Indian border), and finally on the Indo-Myanmar border - an hour ahead.
Fact 4: The land of the rising sun is not Japan at all.
Many people believe that the Japanese are the first to greet the sunrise, but they are not! Our compatriots are the first to greet the dawn. There the dawn can be observed an hour earlier than in the so-called land of the rising sun , even the so-called Greenwich time calculation will help us verify this.
Fact 5: Back in time - from Monday to Sunday.
Do you want to go on a day off (Sunday) again if it’s Monday? Well, all we need is to be in the right place and time, and a 15-20 minute boat ride. The islands of Ratmanov (Russia) and Kruzenshtern (USA) are separated by only 4 kilometers, but according to Greenwich they are very separated by time - for a whole 21 hours. Here’s an example of a clear situation: On Ratmanov Island, everyone is now working – it’s Monday afternoon there, but in the USA on Krusenstern Island they’re still resting – it’s only three o’clock on Sunday.
Fact 6: Mirror time in England and India.
It's quite funny to find out the time in India. In India, the difference with Greenwich is 5.5 hours. You can use this knowledge if you are now in England: just turn the clock upside down and you can find out what time it is in India now.
These are the ones that exist time paradoxes conditional time zones and state policies.
Difference in time, Time Zones and others time paradoxes can be quite funny. You can go to or in just one step! How? You will find the answer to this question in this article.
1 fact: .
In the Pacific Ocean, along the 180th meridian there is a so-called . If you cross this line from east to west, then you will immediately find yourself in tomorrow, but if in the other direction, then you will find yourself in the past. This is how it is possible to travel in time 24 hours forward or backward. At this point, the present is not a very precise concept of time.
Fact 2: Longest time step.
The Afghan-Chinese border is famous for its time difference regarding the countries shared by it. If you are in Afghanistan and crossed the border, that is, into China, then you can and even need to move the clock hands 3.5 hours forward! This could be a three and a half hour step!
Fact 3: .
There are many legends about the Himalayas and this place is considered mystical by many. Let's look at this mountain range in time, that is, how it changes over 1000 kilometers. If a traveler decides to overcome them, then he must set the time as many as 6 times: 15 minutes forward when crossing the Indo-Nepal border, then 15 minutes back when crossing the Nepal-Indian border, 150 minutes ahead on the Indo-Chinese border, and 150 minutes ahead on the Chinese-Chinese border. On the Bhutanese border 2 hours back, then back again by half an hour (Bhutan-Indian border), and finally on the Indo-Myanmar border - an hour ahead.
Fact 4: The land of the rising sun is not Japan at all.
Many people believe that the Japanese are the first to greet the sunrise, but they are not! Our compatriots are the first to greet the dawn. There the dawn can be observed an hour earlier than in the so-called land of the rising sun , even the so-called Greenwich time calculation will help us verify this.
Fact 5: Back in time - from Monday to Sunday.
Do you want to go on a day off (Sunday) again if it’s Monday? Well, all we need is to be in the right place and time, and a 15-20 minute boat ride. The islands of Ratmanov (Russia) and Kruzenshtern (USA) are separated by only 4 kilometers, but according to Greenwich they are very separated by time - for a whole 21 hours. Here’s an example of a clear situation: On Ratmanov Island, everyone is now working – it’s Monday afternoon there, but in the USA on Krusenstern Island they’re still resting – it’s only three o’clock on Sunday.
Fact 6: Mirror time in England and India.
It's quite funny to find out the time in India. In India, the difference with Greenwich is 5.5 hours. You can use this knowledge if you are now in England: just turn the clock upside down and you can find out what time it is in India now.
These are the ones that exist time paradoxes conditional time zones and state policies.
Thanks to many modern technologies, the world has become more accessible and closer. Communication, joint work on interesting projects, business negotiations and even online conferences have long become an everyday reality. But for work, travel and communication, the right choice of time is very important, because there are several time zones on Earth and when it is early morning on one continent, it is late night on another.
To avoid getting into trouble when organizing a meeting, communicating on Skype or conducting online negotiations, you must always check the time in the geographic location of interest. Otherwise, a variety of unplanned situations, hiccups, failures, or simple misunderstandings between the parties may arise. Well, together with the language barrier, this can lead to problems during the trip, or a negative reaction during online negotiations and, as a result, the loss of promising partners or investors.
But if you set a goal, then all problems can be solved - you can improve your English, and a new web service - World Meeting Time - will help you navigate time zones, choose the right call time for communication, online negotiations, or check the transfer time when traveling.
This service will also be of interest to those who like to travel to other countries. By the way, if you like to travel to European countries, then there is a site where there are last-minute tours to Germany at affordable prices. Germany is one of the best in Europe, there is a lot to see there.
On the main page of the site there is a world map, on which, using markers, you need to mark all the geographical points of interest. Naturally, the map can be enlarged several times and markers with names and small comments can be placed. At the same time, the service saves all the user’s notes and settings, which is very convenient for further business and travel. The functionality calculates time deviations from the average according to Greenwich and takes into account the change between summer and winter time in all countries.
After placing markers and specifying the time, the user can send the resulting schedule of negotiations, meetings or online conferences to all interested parties in the form of email messages, using the “Shedule and share your Meeting” function. To make it even more convenient for users, these messages include the ability to enter additional comments and information about the duration of the scheduled meeting.
Others have not been forgotten: many users will find the option of adding all planned trips, events, conferences and negotiations to the Google calendar very useful - “Add to Google calendar”.
For those who have a sense of humor, the creators have prepared a little joke - if you place a marker on one of the water areas on the map, an analogue of a pirate flag appears and a message stating that the service does not work with pirates and a request to mark another place on the map.
World Meeting Time is currently undergoing beta testing and therefore some functions do not work very well, for example, the main map of the service does not have all the capabilities of Google Maps. Another drawback is the absence of many not-so-large cities on the map. On the other hand, to clarify and calculate the time of events, trips and meetings, nearby large cities are quite sufficient.
The World Meeting Time temporary service will be useful not only when conducting negotiations, planning trips or other business communications - it is also perfect for private and family matters. The capabilities of the resource will allow you to clarify the time of a personal call, a family meeting in a third country, or the choice of time to communicate on Skype, taking into account the difference in time zones.
Video.
Let's continue the topic of time management, there is a very interesting and useful video on how to learn to manage time.