"You leave San Francisco at 4:00 AM on Thursday and land in Japan on Wednesday. How is this possible?"
Please...? I am really stumped...
2007-03-27 16:58:49 · 4 answers · asked by Dusty 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Geography
The planet is spinning west to east. If you travel east to west, it is possible to "gain" local time by passing through time zones where the local time is earlier and earlier.
I think there are about six time zones between California and Japan, and so if you make the trip in about two hours (!) it will be 6:00 AM Thursday in CA, and 12:00 AM Wednesday in Japan.
2007-03-27 17:08:10 · answer #1 · answered by Argon 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
With 7 time zones to travel west in about 10 hours of flight (5100 miles) you should arrive at about 7AM Friday local Japanese time if you flew west across the International Dateline.
0400h Thursday in San Francisco
+ 10 hours flight time
= 1400h Thursday in San Francisco time when you arrive in Japan
+ 17 time zones ( or - 7) that Japan is ahead of San Francisco
= 3100h Thursday Japan time when you arrive in Japan
= 0700h Friday Japan time when you arrive in Japan
Arriving in Japan on Wednesday means you either travelled faster than the speed of light and travelled backward in time (which I doubt), or else it took you six days to get there by whatever means and the Wednesday is actually next week.
2007-03-27 17:07:30 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
THX got it right, even though it the way he said it is a bit clumsy. It's easier if you only count eastward, forget about the International Dateline even if you actually fly west over it
.
4am San Francisco time plus 10 hours of flight time plus 17 time zones equals 31 hours, which comes out to 7 hours on the next day, or 7am the next day. From Thursday, that makes it Friday when you arrive.
2007-03-29 12:07:09 · answer #3 · answered by Boris Bumpley 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because you cross the International Date Line, West of Hawaii.
Which is why I am at 1730 Wednesday now, and you are behind me by 20 hours approximately.
2007-03-27 18:33:11 · answer #4 · answered by Murray H 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋