By convention the Earth’s surface is today divided into distinct time zones insi

Question

By convention the Earth’s surface is today divided into distinct time zones inside which all clocks are meant to precisely agree. However, for much of human history people have kept time by the Sun, whose passage across the sky reflects Earth’s rotation. This solar time thus differs according to any difference whatsoever in longitude (which is why time zones were invented). How far along the Earth’s equator would you need to move in longitude for solar time compared to your starting point to differ by one minute?

Explanation / Answer

First we start with a day is 24 hours long and the distance in longitude around the earth's equator is 360º. We can equate these two as both being the circumference of the earth (this may seem strange but both are distances around the earth, just not spatial per say). So now we have 360º=24 hours. 360º=24 hours * 60min/hour 360º=1440min. Now that we have degrees equals min. We look back the problem again and realize that we want 1 min = x degrees. So we divide by 1440. .25º longitude = 1 min.

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