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Time and Time Zones Days and nights occur because the earth is spinning on an axis. Time changes as you move east or west, so the earth is divided into twenty-four time zones, one for each hour of the day. Some time zone boundaries zigzag so that people living in one region or country can have the same time. The time along the prime meridian in Greenwich, England, is known as Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT. People communicating across two different parts of the globe often use Greenwich Mean Time. The east coast of the United States is five time zones behind GMT, so if it is midnight in Greenwich, it is 7:00 p.m. in Florida. There are four time zones in the continental United States. They are Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. You might notice that live television programs often begin at 8:00 Eastern, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain and 5:00 Pacific. Alaska is an hour behind Pacific Time and Hawaii is two hours behind Pacific Time. Almost every nation uses the same system of measuring time, but China does not have time zones. China extends across five times zones, but the time is the same everywhere in China. If you live in western or eastern China, the sun will not be directly overhead at noon. |
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