what is the reason for different time zones in usa?

Answer 1

The reason there are time zones in the US (and the rest of the world for that matter) is because the earth spins and rotates around the sun creating day and night. The rotating earth creates the sunrise and sunset, which geographically cannot happen at the same time in New York and in Los Angeles, for example. So that is a brief reason why we have time zones.

Answer 2

Most people work from 9 AM to 5 PM. If 9 AM happened at the same time all across the country, then for some people it would still be dark at 9 AM, while for others it would be time for lunch.

So either some people would effectively be working graveyard shifts just because of where they lived, or else a normal workday would be different hours depending on location. You might work 9-to-5 in NYC, but then move to LA and have to work from 12 to 8 PM, because the sun wouldn't come up until 11 AM!

That would suck. Instead, 9 AM in Philly looks pretty much the same as 9 AM in Seattle, as far as where the sun is; even though 9 AM in Seattle is really 3 hours later. This might seem confusing, but it would really be a lot worse if we did it any other way. And the sun is going to keep rising and setting no matter what we do.

Answer 3

Because the Sun moves from east to west if every community used a different time, travelers would be confused and many other problems would be created. To avoid all such problems, standard time zones were established. These zones were set up so there would be a difference of one hour between a place on the eastern edge of a time zone and a place on the western edge if each were on its own local time. But under the time zone system, each of these places is not on its own local time. The local time at the meridian (line) of longitude that runs through the center of the zone is used by all places within the zone. Thus, time throughout the zone is the same.

Answer 4

International time zones were not invented by the US. There are just time zones around the world. There needs to be because otherwise some parts of the world would be in broad daylight at midnight! So America has different time zones because geographically it happens to span a wide enough area that it happens to be in those time zones.

Answer 5

The same reason that there are different time zones marked off around the world. it takes the Sun so long to cover a set amount of distance before it can be seen to rise above the horizon due to the Earths speed of rotation. WE have marked these zones off to standardize local times for our connivance.

Answer 6

The concept of time zones was brought about due to the advent of train travel. Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian rail road engineer, got tired of having to reset his watch each time he entered a new city. Before the opening of North America by trains, each community set their clocks by the sun. This differed by one minute per 18 KM.

Pre-railroad, 18 KM was a long distance. People would not travel this far to quickly, so it didn't matter. Once the railroads crossed the continent, this variance in time would cause many problems for travels and train safety & scheduals. As different railroads traveled on different time scheduals, travellers would arrive at connecting points late & have to wait hours for another train. You also did not want two trains on differing time scheduals, travelling in different directions on the same track.

Sir Flemings ideas for a North American time zone was accepted and put into implimentation by the railroads of North America in the mid 1800's.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Answer 7

It is because of geographical reasons.The sun set and rise differs for each place depending on its geographical location.The local times of each country differs and the same reason holds good for USA also.The country is divided into 3 time zones due to its large size.

Answer 8

The suns position needs to be in the right place at the right time. Overhead at noon, etc. Due to the earths rotation, time zones needed to be created or at noon the sun on the west coast would be like it was nine or so in the morning.

Answer 9

It's part of daylight savings. If you google it, you'll learn more. It makes it so that, in the winter, we are not at work/school in the dark. Then you save money with electricity.

Answer 10

So we can all see CSI and Desperate Housewifes at a decent time of day!

So we can all see Leno and Letterman at the same time!

So Telephone salespeople can call EVEYONE at the same time!