A couple of weeks ago I was in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I was driving along a very scenic route filled with luscious trees when I noticed a street sign that said “Now Entering Eastern Time Zone.”
“That’s odd,” I thought to myself. We had only been driving a few miles, how could we possibly have entered an entirely new time zone? Had I dozed off and woken up hours and hundreds of miles later?
It felt like the makings of an episode of the Twilight Zone. I half expected to learn that time now stood still or aliens were now running planet Earth.
Turns out there is a much simpler explanation. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has two time zones.
That’s news to me. Being from Arizona, I just assumed that every state only had one time zone. Boy was I wrong. Apparently 13 states have multiple time zones.
This got me wondering…How are time zones created?
I know I probably learned that once in elementary school, but much like how to divide fractions, that nugget of education has somehow left my memory.
So I will relearn it today all thanks to Wonder Why Wednesday.
How Are Time Zones Created?
Below is an interesting video which explains all you need to know about time zones. Here are a few quick hitters of what you can expect from the video.
- The creation of the International Date Line (SPOILER ALERT: It is not a 1-800 number for lonely guys)
- A picture of the people responsible for Greenwich Mean Time (SPOILER ALERT: It is all dudes and most of them have beards)
- When time zones were created (SPOILER ALERT: It was before you were born)
- How many time zones there are (SPOILER ALERT: It is Jack Bauer’s favorite number)
Photo credit: Wikipedia
