Just thought of something

[MissHoneychurch]

when America was discovered and the first Europeans came there. Did they notice that there was a time difference to where they came from?

Ok, it is a silly question but still a question :)

[billyskank]

1. Good question

I assume that they didn't think the world was flat, although I doubt whether they subscribed to the heliocentric model of Copernicus and Galileo. (Especially as Galileo hadn't written about it yet). They probably thought that the world was round and was orbited by the sun.

With that in mind, they probably should have had a notion that there would be a time difference, especially as traffic had been travelling long distances to the East and back long before Columbus set out west. But I seriously doubt they would have actually noticed the difference. Telegraphy would not be invented until the 19th century!

Consider that prior to the invention of railways, all villages operated on their own specific time, provided by sundials. In England it was only with the development of railways during the Victorian times that the necessity was recognised of a standard time for the whole country, which was chosen to synchronize with the meridian passing through Greenwich. Why there in particular, I cannot say.

[Clintmax]

2. Hmmm...interesting thought.

One would think they would...but as they crossed the ocean (especially since it took months), the difference would be gradual enough that they would change with it, so they may not have noticed. :shrug:

[JVS]

3. If you mean the vikings, maybe not.

I'd expect the 15th century explorers to notice it because not long after they started moving the reward for someone who could make a clock that stays accurate at sea for the purpose of proper navigation came up.

[MissHoneychurch]

7. I mean the people in the 15th century and later

I never really thought about it.

But you are probably right. They must have noticed that the sun is coming up later when they had their clocks set on the time they departed. But when were clocks invented? Gosh, I sound stupid right now, don't I?


:hide:

[tjwmason]

8. The prize followed a petition to Parliament in 1714

That's quite a bit after the first travellers to America.

Also the prize was for a means of determining longitude, not necessarily a clock.

[JVS]

12. See my post below.

I think the fact that they knew what they needed to solve the longitude problem shows an understanding of the basic astronomy behind timezones.

[kick-ass-bob]

4. The only way they would know is if

they could reach another time zone within a day, or have instant contact with someone in another time zone. "Is it dark there? It is here."

I wonder if people even noticed time differences in the 1700's.

[tjwmason]

5. I'd guess not.

At the time of the first transAtlantic voyages the only reliable mechanism of telling the time was solar, and therefore they'd only know what the time was at their particular point in the world.

As we're way way pre-time-zones, there was no notion of discrete changes in time but rather a gradual shift changing second by second.

Given the speed at which they travelled, I can't imagine that they would have noticed. They'd have been changing their time gradually as they crossed the Atlantic.

[JVS]

6. Here is something interesting related to that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronometer

[MissHoneychurch]

9. thanks for the link

but you see, that clock was invented only in the 18th century.

[JVS]

10. yeah, but the fact that they knew they had a problem finding longitude...

means that even though they hadn't observed any empirical evidence (they'd need the clock to quantify it) they must have had an idea of what was going on. The way I see it is that they knew the world was round before they even got here. So they must have realized the mechanics behind the time difference we knew today. The reasoned that if they could get an accurate clock then they could use that to compare an angle of the sun (solar time) measurement to the known angle at the fixed point in order to determine the longitude. The clock was the hard part to come up with. But the fact that they were able to get the problem to the point of needing a clock shows that they understood how the sun and timezones worked.

[MissHoneychurch]

11. true that

thanks for your input.

Seems like it isn't a silly question afer all.

[JVS]

13. here is some info on the early days of the longitude problem...

which eventually would imply the timezone problem

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Longitude1.html

[JVS]

14. It seems that by 1514 they realized a need for an absolute time

I'm now pretty convinced that they understood what they were dealing with but didn't have the technology to resolve it

[Orsino]

15. It explains a lot.

Maybe I've just never adjusted to the time change.