3 ms·

Is it really desireable to have the apogee of the sun be 12:00? Maybe yes maybe no: I don't know. Most businesses work ~3 hours in the morning and ~5 in the af

Is it really desireable to have the apogee of the sun be 12:00? Maybe yes maybe no: I don't know. Most businesses work ~3 hours in the morning and ~5 in the afternoon. From a thermal perspective, there's an inertia and an accumulation effect so the hottest part of the day is around 5PM, not noon. There may be times when we want to maximise whatever heat available, or conversely avoid as much heat as possible. But in the end, I think it evens out as the culture will simply adjust to what works best for most people, and not really care about lining up to neat numbers.

zhte415 8y ago
Interesting... the hottest part of the day in what I've experienced, in terms of thermal accumulation, is around 1-3pm. But I've usually lived on the coast or within 100km of it; the sea works as a huge normaliser for intraday temperature. When several thousand kilometers inland for the first time, the hot days and cold nights were stark, despite the average temperature being about the same. Do you live significantly away from a very large body of water?
- Retric 8y ago
  It's also latitude dependent. The amount of sunlight you get at 4:30pm also depends on time of year and time zone, etc.
phyzome 8y ago
I like being able to tell what time it is by looking at the Sun's position in the sky. That's easier if solar noon lines up to within an hour.
Izkata 8y ago
> Most businesses work ~3 hours in the morning and ~5 in the afternoon. Don't forget about lunch! I think most people around here take it between 12:00 and 1:30, making it more like ~3 hours in the morning and ~3.5-4 hours in the afternoon (depending on how long their lunch is).
contravariant 8y ago
I can't really come up with a reason why one time zone would be more useful than any other, except that apart from some very rare circumstances it's really not desirable to change.

zhte415 8y ago

Interesting... the hottest part of the day in what I've experienced, in terms of thermal accumulation, is around 1-3pm. But I've usually lived on the coast or within 100km of it; the sea works as a huge normaliser for intraday temperature. When several thousand kilometers inland for the first time, the hot days and cold nights were stark, despite the average temperature being about the same. Do you live significantly away from a very large body of water?

Retric 8y ago
It's also latitude dependent. The amount of sunlight you get at 4:30pm also depends on time of year and time zone, etc.

phyzome 8y ago

I like being able to tell what time it is by looking at the Sun's position in the sky. That's easier if solar noon lines up to within an hour.

Izkata 8y ago

> Most businesses work ~3 hours in the morning and ~5 in the afternoon. Don't forget about lunch! I think most people around here take it between 12:00 and 1:30, making it more like ~3 hours in the morning and ~3.5-4 hours in the afternoon (depending on how long their lunch is).

contravariant 8y ago

I can't really come up with a reason why one time zone would be more useful than any other, except that apart from some very rare circumstances it's really not desirable to change.