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Reading Time
Reading and understanding time can be broken down into a few key concepts:
- Clock face: A clock face is divided into 12 hours, with each hour represented by a number from 1 to 12. The hours are further divided into 60 minutes, represented by tick marks or numbers on the clock face. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds, represented by a smaller tick mark on the clock face.
- Analog vs Digital: Clocks can be either analog or digital. An analog clock has a clock face with hands that point to the hours and minutes. A digital clock displays the time in numerical form.
- Telling time: To tell the time on an analog clock, locate the hour hand and the minute hand. The hour hand will point to the current hour, and the minute hand will point to the current minute. On a digital clock, the time will be displayed in hours and minutes.
- AM and PM: The time is divided into two 12-hour periods, the ante meridiem (AM) and the post meridiem (PM). The hours from midnight to 11:59 are considered AM and the hours from 12:00 to 11:59 are considered PM.
- Military time: In addition to standard time, there is also military time, where the hours are numbered from 0 to 23. For example, 1:00 AM is 0100 in military time, and 1:00 PM is 1300 in military time.
By understanding these basic concepts, you should be able to read and understand time on most clocks and watches.
Reading Time From Analog Clock
Analog clocks have a clock face with hands that point to the hours and minutes. To read the time on an analog clock, you will need to locate the hour hand and the minute hand. Some analog clocks also have seconds hand.
Locate the hour hand: The hour hand is the shortest of the hands. It points to the current hour on the clock face. In the image below, the shorter hand is after 11 but before 12. So current hour is 11
Locate the minute hand: The minute hand is the longest of the hands and thicker than the seconds hand. It points to the current minute on the clock face. In the image above, the minutes hand is on 8. We multiply the number by 5 to get the minutes because each number cover 5 parts (5 minutes here). So here, minutes is 40.
Locate the seconds hand: Second's hand (if present) is the thinnest of the hands. In the image above, seconds hand is after 4 but before the next part. Here as well we multiply the number 4 by 5 to get the seconds. So seconds is 20.
Combine the hour and minutes and seconds: To express the time you must combine the hour, minutes and seconds. So in the above clock the time is 11:40:20.
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