In Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 day's" "At the reverend's, Passepartout learns that he is mistaken in the date, which he takes to be Sunday but which actually is Saturday due to the fact that the party traveled east, thereby gaining a full day on their journey around the globe, by crossing the International Date Line."
Is this possible or truly fiction? If true would the same be said if you traveled West and would be older then you think?
2007-01-24 03:17:18 · 4 answers · asked by Zeus48 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Yes, Time zones allow you to lose an hour regularly when you travel east, Thats why there's a three hour differ between Los Angeles and New York, until you reach ,I believe, at 270 Longitude , the International Date Line, where you will have lose a whole day at . You will live one day all over again. Then you will lose an hour regularly until you can return to where you began. In Around the World in 80 Days Fogg forgot this and so almost lost his race.
2007-01-24 03:34:29 · answer #1 · answered by redgriffin728 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's the International Date Line which, of course, runs north and south in the Pacific just west of Hawaii. When you cross it heading west to, say, Japan, you "add" a day (meaning you go from Wed to Thursday). When you come back from Japan to the U.S. you "subtract" a day (again, going from Sunday to Saturday).
So, usually, even with long flights, coming home you would "land before you took off." Since the party in "Around the World" went east across the date line, that's when they gained the day. It has nothing to do, by the way, with how far they traveled. Just crossing the dateline.
By the way, one of the remarkable things about Jules Verne and H.G. Wells is how well researched they are in terms of the science in their science fiction.
2007-01-24 03:58:46 · answer #2 · answered by writealready 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, if you traveled east.
I live on the east coast of the U.S., I have a relative who lives in France. It is always 6 hours later in France than it is here. But, you couldn't just keep going continuously to get younger or older. If you were any older/younger it wouldn't be more than a number of hours, according to how far you went.
2007-01-24 03:33:23 · answer #3 · answered by Barbra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They lost 24 hours when they changed time zones 24 times (although I don't think it was standardized at that point) and then gained it back as one complete day. So no, not really gaining time.
Michael Palin did a reenactment of the book for BBC and he (at least in the book version which I read) had Day (I don't know, maybe 51) and Day 51 (again).
2007-01-24 03:43:47 · answer #4 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋