Science Common Sense

248 - What causes the Earth to have different time zones?

The Earth is like a big ball, and it rotates on its side. As it rotates, different parts of the Earth face towards or away from the sun. This causes day and night.

Imagine you're standing on one side of the Earth, and it's daytime. Now imagine your friend is standing on the other side, and it's nighttime. That's because the Earth has rotated, and your friend is now facing away from the sun.

The Earth is divided into 24 sections, called time zones. Each time zone is roughly the width of the Earth that sees the sun at the same time. This means that when it's daytime in one time zone, it's nighttime in another. That's why we have different time zones – to make sure everyone in a particular area has the same time, based on when they see the sun.