Question

Explain how the longitude of a place affects the time.

Answer 1

As the Earth rotates from west to east about its own axis, the zone of illumination moves slowly towards the west. This accounts for variation in the time of Sunrise and Sunset at different places on the Earth. The Earth takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. This means that 360 degrees of longitude are covered in a period of 24 hours. This gives rise to a time difference of [24 × 60/360] or 4 minutes for 1° of longitude. The time difference is to be added in case of places to the east of a point. In the case of places to the west, the time difference is to be subtracted. It is possible to calculate the time at a given place A from the time recorded at B and the longitude difference between stations A and B.