4 ms·

Wouldn't that get incredibly confusing with the calendar always being slightly off, despite using the same names? At that point why not just stick to a integer

by crote 4y ago

Wouldn't that get incredibly confusing with the calendar always being slightly off, despite using the same names? At that point why not just stick to a integer day count for the date. Having a non-integer number of hours in a day might also get confusing. It would be near-impossible to make an analog clock, for example, and stuff like dividing up a day into three shifts would be really cumbersome. For day-to-day life redefining the second might end up being a lot easier.

cornholio 4y ago
> Wouldn't that get incredibly confusing with the calendar always being slightly off, despite using the same names? I think you can keep the calendar within +/- one day of a certain Earth location by carefully adjusting the length of the months. So it would be much like the dates vary on Earth between time zones, for example at the time I'm writing this the date in Hawaii is March 1st, while my local date is March 2nd. But less predictable, yes.
BurningFrog 4y ago
People under 30 don't use the "circular clock" anyway. Mars will do fine without it.
- jcla1 4y ago
  That is definitely not true - I have an analog wrist watch (and am under 30). Also, there can be benefits to the use of analog clocks: in some circumstances they're quicker to read the time off of. http://www.mcld.co.uk/blog/2006/digital-vs-analogue-clocks.html http://www.mcld.co.uk/blog/2006/digital-vs-analogue-clocks.h...
  - cornholio 4y ago
    Have your circular dial divided in 24.658 sections then. Nothing good can come from using a slightly longer second then what absolutely every piece of Earth hardware expects. Unless you are billion dollar rover mission where every bit or hardware is a custom design, it's imperative to use Earth seconds.
  - BurningFrog 4y ago
    It's not true of every young person in 2023, but that knowledge is fading away.
jjk166 4y ago
> It would be near-impossible to make an analog clock, for example, Why would that be an issue? You still have the hours hand make a full rotation in one period, and you make markings at each hour. You just have separate markings at 24 o'clock and 0 o'clock.
- wmanley 4y ago
  and the minute hand?
  - cornholio 4y ago
    Separate inner markings, like on most 24 hour earth clocks I find on Google images. When you've lost clean divisibility with 5, conflating the dials to make every hour house 2.5 minutes is already not a nice design. Of course, you need mechanically handle the jumping ahead of the minutes and seconds arms. What you get tends to look like a very precise chronometer, the type a Mars scientist would wear.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - jjk166 4y ago
    Still goes at 1 rotation per hour. You put the minute markings on another wheel to precess each day. The hour and minute hands won't form the same angle at the same time each day, but it will still tell the correct time.
    - cornholio 4y ago
      The problem is, what do you do at 24:39:35, when both the minute and the second arm have more than a third of the way to go before zero? Any mechanical design where units are not cleanly divisible would have to devise a way for the arms to "fast forward" over the gap and accept nonsensical results for a few seconds before midnight.
      - jjk166 4y ago

by crote 4y ago

cornholio 4y ago

> Wouldn't that get incredibly confusing with the calendar always being slightly off, despite using the same names? I think you can keep the calendar within +/- one day of a certain Earth location by carefully adjusting the length of the months. So it would be much like the dates vary on Earth between time zones, for example at the time I'm writing this the date in Hawaii is March 1st, while my local date is March 2nd. But less predictable, yes.

BurningFrog 4y ago

People under 30 don't use the "circular clock" anyway. Mars will do fine without it.

jcla1 4y ago
That is definitely not true - I have an analog wrist watch (and am under 30). Also, there can be benefits to the use of analog clocks: in some circumstances they're quicker to read the time off of. http://www.mcld.co.uk/blog/2006/digital-vs-analogue-clocks.html http://www.mcld.co.uk/blog/2006/digital-vs-analogue-clocks.h...
- cornholio 4y ago
  Have your circular dial divided in 24.658 sections then. Nothing good can come from using a slightly longer second then what absolutely every piece of Earth hardware expects. Unless you are billion dollar rover mission where every bit or hardware is a custom design, it's imperative to use Earth seconds.
- BurningFrog 4y ago
  It's not true of every young person in 2023, but that knowledge is fading away.

jjk166 4y ago

> It would be near-impossible to make an analog clock, for example, Why would that be an issue? You still have the hours hand make a full rotation in one period, and you make markings at each hour. You just have separate markings at 24 o'clock and 0 o'clock.

wmanley 4y ago
and the minute hand?
- cornholio 4y ago
  Separate inner markings, like on most 24 hour earth clocks I find on Google images. When you've lost clean divisibility with 5, conflating the dials to make every hour house 2.5 minutes is already not a nice design. Of course, you need mechanically handle the jumping ahead of the minutes and seconds arms. What you get tends to look like a very precise chronometer, the type a Mars scientist would wear.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- jjk166 4y ago
  Still goes at 1 rotation per hour. You put the minute markings on another wheel to precess each day. The hour and minute hands won't form the same angle at the same time each day, but it will still tell the correct time.
  - cornholio 4y ago
    The problem is, what do you do at 24:39:35, when both the minute and the second arm have more than a third of the way to go before zero? Any mechanical design where units are not cleanly divisible would have to devise a way for the arms to "fast forward" over the gap and accept nonsensical results for a few seconds before midnight.
    - jjk166 4y ago