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Why is a minute divided up into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, and only 24 hours in a day?

Published

Author(s)

Michael A. Lombardi

Abstract

An overview on the historical origins of the units of time interval, written for the "Ask the Experts" feature in Scientific American.
Citation
Scientific American

Keywords

clocks, time, time interval, timekeeping

Citation

Lombardi, M. (2007), Why is a minute divided up into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, and only 24 hours in a day?, Scientific American, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50491 (Accessed October 10, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created March 3, 2007, Updated January 27, 2020