Why are there 60 seconds in a minute
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Why are there 60 seconds in a minute

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-11-03] [Hit: ]
Since they were the first to invent clocks, they were the ones that decided a day is 24 hours, an hour is 60 minutes, and a minute is 60 seconds.They also decided a circle is 360 degrees, and each degree has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds (we see this in co-ordinates for locations on a map for example).......
like why aren't there a nice even looking 100 seconds
furthermore why aren't there 100 minutes in an hour ?
im just curious as to how the entire world came to the conclusion that there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour therefore making a day consist of 24 hours ?

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It all started with the Greeks that were obsessed with the number 60.
Since they were the first to invent clocks, they were the ones that decided a day is 24 hours, an hour is 60 minutes, and a minute is 60 seconds.
They also decided a circle is 360 degrees, and each degree has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds (we see this in co-ordinates for locations on a map for example).

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Nice question!

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Blame the Babylonians or someone

Anyway, 60 is a nice number - it divides by 1,2,3,4,5,6,10,12,15 etc.
Much nicer than 100.
I thing the French did play with the 100 minute idea following the revolution, when they introduced the decimal metric system, but it quickly fell out of favour

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the numbers 12/24/60, etc., are handed down from the ancient Babylonian sexigesimal system. There has been no apparent need to change them since they function quite adequately... perhaps in the future some bright lad will want to make a name for himself by attempting to change it... Hoo Hah !

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Cuz 60 sounds like sexy. And sexy is sexy (;

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blame it on the greeks. I knew the answer once, you could probably google it.

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Why is your mom your mom?

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Good question
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