why is there only 24 hours in a day?

Answer 1

Do you want more?

Answer 2

The answer, as best we can guess, is that the Sumerians used their fingers to count.

Fingers, after all, are digits and underlie the digital economy. Our having ten of them, most of us, underlies the decimal system.

But why 24 hours in the day? Why not, say, 20?

Take your hand and crook the right thumb to touch the base of your right index finger and say “one.”

Now move it up a notch – see that? Each of your fingers has three distinct segments. Never really noticed that, did you? Now say "two.”

I think you may sense where this is leading. By the time your right thumb has counted each of the three segments of your neighboring four fingers, you’re up to 12.

So a day was divided into 12 segments, called hours; and, too, the night.

For similar reasons, the foot was divided into 12 inches. At least in some cultures. Others, I guess, used the “unfolding fingers” method of counting (beginning with two closed fists) and so decided to break stuff into tenths instead of twelfths.

Now, still looking at your right palm, having successfully counted to 12, make a thumbs-up sign with your left hand. As in . . . “that’s one set of 12.” Count another set of twelve with your right hand and you earn an unfolded left index finger (never mind that now your left hand is prepared to say, “bang-bang”). That’s two sets of 12.

Keep doing this until you have unfolded all five fingers of your left hand, and you’ve got 60. This probably why we have 60 minutes in each of those hours... and 60 is convenient because it is evenly divisable by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30 and 60.

Anyway, there's one theory on why there are 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour...

Answer 3

I believe 12 24 etc wer used as they are divisible by 2, 3 and 4 (and 6) whereas 10 is only divisible by 2 (and 5). Makes thirds and quarters possible
But how can I argue against the big clock below

Answer 4

Because that is the time it takes for the Earth to rotate once upon its axis...or so we are told.
Actually scientists believe that the earths rotation is gradually slowing down which means that it isn't a constant at all. The .25 day extra from the Gregorian calender may just be an excuse to compensate for the Earth rotating 24 hrs and 59.1375 secs. Work it out!!

Answer 5

To follow that last answer, the second last as long as it does because it feels the most natural to us. As a musician, there is natural feeling of what the second is, even where there is no clock, to give us a sense what spend a song should be. This is related to our heart beat. And adult will normal feel around 60 beats a minute, a young child will feel about 90 a minute. Ask young children to count, and you will see they do it faster. This basic sense of time leads us to the greater sense of eventually 24 hours.

Answer 6

It wouldn't make any difference if there were more. For instance, if they changed it to 48hrs per day, 1hr would only last 30mins of the time we have now. It is all to do with the Moon and the Earth's rotation around the Sun. Plus most people would then work 80hrs per week, instead of 40hrs.

Answer 7

To make it simple: It takes the earth 24 hours to go in a full circle, wich equals one day/

Answer 8

Because there are 24 time zones

Answer 9

It's actually 23 hours 56 minutes.

Answer 10

This is because the time it takes for the earth to complete one rotation remains the same.

This time is considered as 24 hrs in our time system.

Answer 11

well actually the numbers used in our MEASUREMENT of time are all to do with the circle and the initial way we broke it up into degrees. 360 degrees in the circle makes for easy measurement without calculators (as the ancient Greeks and other thinkers didnt have them).

If they had supercomputers in those days we could have other means of breaking up a circle into angles (and remember the earth orbits the sun in essentially a circle).