Location and your time zone.

How To Read Sun Dials - By: Hueys Planet


Sundials remain a mystery to many people. How were sundials invented? How do sundials work? Through the years, this wonder has gone through a wide range of innovations. In this article, we would like to share with you some tips on how sundials work and how they are read. If you wish to read sundials, you need to make 3 necessary adjustments.


Location and your time zone. If you are familiar with the rotation of the Earth, you need to understand that the sun arrives on the east edge of the time zone before it hits the west. For instance, if you live in Seattle, the two edges of the Pacific Time zone are usually more than 800 kilometers apart from each other. Sundials are timed 12:30 PM but they are read 11:30 AM in the West. From the example, we can say that the sundial differs by 1 hour. Imagine two people at different time zones looking at the same sundial at the same time. The two would have a one hour difference in their time.

Sundial rule. This can be quite tricky at first. For every degree of longitude that you live west of the center of your time zone, increase for minutes in your reading. This is necessary in order to adjust your clock time. If you live east of the center, reduce 4 minutes for every degree. Why four minutes? Most time zones are 15 degree longitude wide. Every hour has 60 minutes and it takes four minutes for the sun to sweep through a degree. To find the center longitude, note down how many hours is your time ahead or behind the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

DST Adjustment. In some parts of the world, Daylight Savings Time (DST) is enforced. To do this, increase an hour into your sundial reading to get the right clock time.

Reading sundials may be quite complicated especially for beginners. It would help if you ask someone to help you out with the reading. In time, you will be able to read sundials with ease.

You can find sundials on the beach. Beaches receive a good amount of sunlight. This allows sundials to work well. People use them to tell the time even without their watches. Get a tan, down a beer, ride the waves, play Frisbee – now, you can have beach fun without having to mind your own valuables.

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