Times zones in USA for states close to each other?

Question

I know what a time zone is and have traveled a lot. However, I do not get how there is so much difference in map coordinates that Arizona and New Mexico are an hour apart, or how California is two hours ahead of Texas, which is just two states away. It is not gradual at all. Is this because technologists have yet to put in the effort where you can see time changing gradually? Instead of the decisive implementation of a different time zone whether you are 8 hours away from a different state or right next to the border? Or is there a legit reason as to why there is such a strict difference no matter where in the state you are/how close you are to a different time zone?

Answer 1

Usa Times Zones

Answer 2

Times Zones Usa

Answer 3

The Earth is 24 timezones wide, so one way or another there need to be 24 timezones somewhere. But we have electric lights now so our jobs don't have to be exactly linked to sunrise and sunset. That means map makers get to adjust where the timezone lines go to some extent.



With a state small enough it's all on one side of a time zone line - Illinois and many others. With a state wide enough a time zone line can run through it - Tennessee at least. With a very large city just across the line in the next states some counties can vote to join the other time zone - Indiana near Chicago.



So the fact that time zones have to happen is a matter of astronomy, there is a lot of leeway in drawing the lines on state boundaries or for other reasons. The exact lines are a combination of approximately which time zone an astronomer would give, plus business justifications, plus political considerations.

Answer 4

You do realize how big the United States is, right? It would take 4-5 days to drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It may seem like they're close, but they're no closer than any other time zones in the world, and the state borders are completely unrelated. Also worth noting is that if you go from one end of one time zone to the far end of the next, there actually is a significant difference. For example, I lived in the middle of the eastern time zone for years, and then moved to the eastern end of it--sunset was an hour earlier than I was used to.

A gradual time change would, of course, be more accurate, but would wreak havoc on business. Keeping track of thousands of time zones simply wouldn't be practical.

Answer 5

It all started in the 1840s England. As the first railroad took trains across the country, time tables were computed. But, at the time, people were setting their clocks by the local hour angle, i.e. the clock of the sun dial and that changes at different longitudes.



The Brits then agree to all set their clock to the time of the prime meridian at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich. It was later divided through the world and 360 divided by 24 is 15, as your are already told.



But, why such a difference in time zones? Well, scientists do the calculation but politicians do the decision! ;-) Here is an example:



Both Norway and Spain use UTC+1 as winter time. That is, one hour before that of Greenwich. The town of Kirkenes in Norway and the town of Vigo in Spain are 38 degrees of longitude of difference. That is two hours and forty minutes. So the sun is, in Vigo, at its meridian, 2:40 hours later and it causes a problem because the World Meteorological Organization gathers weather data from the world as noon observations and, noon, local time and not solar time. And that gives a bias that makes Norway to appear a bit warmer than what it should be. ;-)



In western Europe, all countries keep UTC+1 as winter time and only Great Britain, Ireland and Portugal keep UTC. When you fly from Paris to London, you stay at about the same longitude, yet you move one hour in time!

Answer 6

No-one cares about the sun anymore. They want to phone someone at 9am in the state capital and have it be 9am there too - originally it was to make it easier to print railway timetables, and for that matter to make sure trains didn't crash into each other. Yes we could easily work out "real" time with something like the Apple watch, but why bother ? Even sailors are using GPS not sextants and taking noon latitude sights.



You might notice that timezones divert around towns - no-one wants to have a different timezone the other side of the street.

Answer 7

Time zines are established on longitudes at 15º intervals. In the contiguous mainland US these are 75ºW, 90ºW, 105ºW & 120ºW. States falling within ± 7½º on either side of each of these lines are part of that time zone, with a few alterations to account for the state boundaries. Thus roughly from 67½ºW to 82½ºW fall within EST - Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama.& those to the east.

It is the reason why as you cross from New Mexico to Arizona you need to change the time by 1 hour. Texas is the biggest state that spreads to & beyond 105ºW (Eagle peak onwards, beyond Big Bend), Normally it should be ahead of 1 hour of PST (don't you say "just two states away"; it is not the number of states one counts) but as the whole state has to conform to one time zone the time difference is kept at 2 hours difference.

"It is not gradual" as it is never meant to be. Why need the Technologists put that effort, when it is OK with everyone (except you) ? If it so, follow the Solar Time as they do in Saudi Arabia. Noon at a place is when the Sun crosses the Main local meridian, passing through the zenith & you set the watch for 12:00 at that moment..It can be done.

"Or is there a legit reason as to why there is such a strict difference no matter where in the state you are/how close you are to a different time zone?": The answer is it is a convention that all humans there have chosen to follow so that there is no confusion. In the same state it enables all to follow it so that meetings are held accordingly, Children attend classes accordingly in the school.

On the equator every 1 hour time zone is 1037½miles apart. In the Latitudes of mid USA these lines crowd in to 1/√2 of that or 733⅔miles apart (you need to set your watch after that distance on the average). If you are in the vicinity of Mt.Logan on the Alaska-Canada border a drive in east-west direction needs setting the watch by 1hour for every 518¾ miles apart. On the North Pole this distance is "zero". There are no Time zones there.

For your information everyone reads your question (perhaps you do that, it makes you think that everyone is like you & does that) even knowing that most of it is crap & the guy refuses to apply his mind. There is really no need for all that crap you squeeze out here. Like I said it is the longitudes that matter & not latitudes as you suggest in your text. Learn that. It is proof enough you don't understand time zones but you think you do . Point is - you don't know that you don't know.

If Gigapie has insecurity or whatever, it is none of YOUR business. Your business here is to learn something & not point fingers at people. If you can't or don't learn, leave ! If you are incapable of learning, God alone would or should help you. We all learn from each other without being presumptuous & learning (if at all you care to) is not possible with arrogance in tow. Chuck that out.

Answer 8

Would you want to change your watch every minute when travelling east or west?

If you think time zones are arbitary then why not go to live in China which covers 5 time zones, but only has one official time: Beijing time and Beijing is in the east of the country.

Answer 9

With a few exceptions states choose to all be in the same time zone, so mostly state borders are the boundaries with somewhat patchy results.

Answer 10

The technology to get local noon to be close to when the sun is at its zenith was developed long ago. It's called the sundial. However, in the modern world where it becomes more important to coordinate schedules.

Answer 11

make california its own country we have the 7th largest economy go california!!!!the usa is holding us back