Why does a clock rotate in the clockwise direction?

🧑🏻‍🦱 -> Why does a clock rotate in the clockwise direction?

👨🏻‍🏫 -> Earlier people used to use a sundial to calculate the time of the day.

timo-c-dinger-cJLokI4adx8-unsplash.jpg Photo by Timo C. Dinger on Unsplash

The Clock (analog) we have now is made in the clockwise direction to mimic the shadow movement of the sun on a sundial.

🧑🏻‍🦱 -> But the sun’s shadow moves in the counterclockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. Then why the northern hemisphere?

👨🏻‍🏫 -> Excellent question.

  • As the earth rotates on a 21.2-degree axis, in the Southern hemisphere the sun’s shadow moves in the anti-clockwise direction, but the reverse in the northern hemisphere.
  • Now why the Northern hemisphere is the cause of Population density.
  • The population density is more in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, the Clockwise direction.

Sundial shadow movement in the anti-clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere:

Sundial shadow movement in the clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere:

Therefore, a clock rotates clockwise to match the shadow of the sun’s movement in the densely populated northern hemisphere.

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