why does the 'snooze' button snooze for 9 minutes? Why not ten or five?

Question

I'm sure there are probably exceptions, but for the most part if you answer this question and you will have unlocked all of life's secrets...................

Answer 1

It's really all a matter of mechanics. Back in 1956 when the snooze button was first introduced, alarm clocks had standardized gears. The snooze gear had to mesh with the teeth of the other gears. Due to the configuration of the gears, a nice, round 10-minute snooze cycle was out of the question, so the engineers had to choose between nine minutes or 10-plus minutes. As we all know, punctuality is a virtue, so the engineers went with nine minutes.

Various attempts have been made to change the nine-minute snooze cycle -- manufacturers have tried five, seven, and ten minutes, but a nine-minute snooze has become the unofficial standard.

Answer 2

Thank you for asking that! I always got weird looks when I pondered that with people. I found a list online and here is what i thought was the best and the link to said site.

(9) In the days of dial clocks, the snooze interval was originally intended to be ten minutes max, but precision was unimportant and engineers were content if they could make the interval nine minutes and change. When the industry switched to digital, clock designers figured the standard snooze interval was nine minutes; "and change" went out the window.

Now we're getting somewhere. Partial confirmation of this view comes from Jay "Pappy" Kennan, a clock collector who took apart an old GE electromechanical clock with one of the earliest snooze buttons. (Pappy helpfully posted photos of the clock's innards on his Web site; see the links at the bottom of www.ma.ultranet.com/~jayman.) The clock's snooze-gear mechanism was not precise; the snooze interval could be anywhere from nine to nine and a half minutes. Pappy's opinion, seconded by a clock engineer, was that the original, none-too-ambitious designers wanted a clock with a snooze interval in the nine-to-ten-minute range.

So what may have happened was, some early chip designer inspected an old mechanical clock with a snooze button, figured that a nine-minute snooze interval had been ordained by the clock gods, and built it into his chip--and we've been stuck with it ever since. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Answer 3

you ought to purchase clocks that snooze for 10 minutes, 9 minutes, and ones which you would be able to set to fulfill your guy or woman very own needs. i for my area could have an alarm that is going off in 9 minute increments or another spectacular huge variety. the component is that with a 10 minute alarm it extremely is basic for me to look on the clock and calculate precisely how lots time i'll could get waiting if I hit snooze only one greater time. 9 minutes is only too difficult to function up on the same time as i'm a million/2 asleep.

Answer 4

If they did snooze for 10 minutes, you would probably be asking, "why not for 9 or 11?"

Answer 5

Hahahaha. I have often asked myself this very same question in that awkward time between waking and sleeping when all I can do is plot the demise of whoever invented alarm clocks. I think the alarm clock makers are just trying to mess with us.

Either that, or they assume that if we sleep for an extra TEN minutes we will be late. NINE minutes gives us that extra minute to spare and get up and begin our day. Because one minute is that important....

Answer 6

other that waking just before a round ten minutes. Most alarm clocks have a snooze setting, mine is every fifteen. check your manual.

Answer 7

That's funny because mine's 9 minutes too. I have no idea why but I've learned to like it. Look in your manual to see if you can change it if you want to.

Answer 8

It's measured in Chinese minutes. I had a clock with an11 min cycle once. Yoo Hoo.

Answer 9

I have always wondered that too! Mine is 6 minutes. Again, why 6 minutes???

Answer 10

mine's 5... but i usually hit it 4 times in the morning