Why is the sunset an hour earlier on the west coast than it is on the east coast?

Question

San Diego, CA sunset was at 4:50PM on Sunday November 11th and in Ocala, FL it was 5:37PM.

Answer 1

Because the earth is spinning, all events related to the sun move westward 15 degrees of longitude per hour (one rotation = 24 hours *15 degrees = 360 degrees)

Ocala longitude approx 82W
San Diego longitude 117W

So you would expect sunset in San Diego to be (117-82)/15 hours later [about 2 hours 20 minutes]

However, the time zone in San Diego is 3 hours later than Ocala. So instead of things happening 2 hours 20 min later they will happen 40 minutes earlier (according to local time).

So 5:37 + :40 = 4:57, pretty close to the 4:50 quoted. Although longitude makes most of the difference, big differences in latitude also have an effect. This and rounding off the latitude (for simplicity) make up the remaining 7 minutes

Answer 2

Sunset Times East Coast

Answer 3

ocala is at latitude 29.2 and San Diego is at latitude 32.8...what this means is Ocala is closer to equator which is why sun sets later there as compared to San Diego. it has nothing to do with the east vs west coast.

Answer 4

Since time zones have finite width, places on the western sides of them have later sunsets than places on the east side of them. So check the longitudes; eastern time nominally lines up with the 75th and western time, with the 120th.

Answer 5

California is three hours behind the East Coast.
When it is 5:37 P.M. in Florida...........It is 2:37 P.M.in California.

Answer 6

thats a reliable thought, i did the comparable factor one time at southpadre with my fiance'. in basic terms difference replaced into i regarded at of the beachside hotel at midday, and checked into the bayside good after. 3 hourchronic, in basic terms for the solar? for fishing perhaps LOL first gentle is large for fishing, sundown is for large for fishing too. for love, its sundown. little doubt approximately it, sundown, "instruments" the temper