GeographyTime Zones Notes and ActivityMs. Ripley
Name:______

Time Zones Explained: Because of the earth’s rotation, the sun does not rise or set in all parts of Canada at the same time. Time zones let us know exactly what the time is in any other part of Canada.
TIME ZONES Questions (Section 1)
A traveler gets on a plane n Vancouver at 1:00 P.M. and flies to Toronto. The flight takes four hours. When he lands in Toronto it is 8:00 P.M.
1. Do you know why this is? ______
Have you ever heard Canadian radio or television announcers tell you about a program that is coming up? They will often give you the time for the program, then say, “half an hour later in Newfoundland:’ Do you know why the program is one half hour later in Newfoundland?
2. The answer to both questions is:______
Time Zone Article (Read the article and then answer the questions) Section 2
Long ago, there was no need for time zones. In fact, there was little need for clocks for keeping track of time. People got up when the sun rose. They went to bed when it was dark. Travel was slow in those days. It would take weeks, even months, to go from Vancouver to Toronto. In a journey that long no one noticed that the sun rose three hours earlier in Toronto than in Vancouver.
Two things changed all this. The first was the growth of factories and cities. The second was increased speed in transportation and communication across the country. This increase in speed was caused by the railroads and telegraph/phone.

People who lived in cities worked in shops and factories they had to get to work on time. Business and government people had to know when to get together for meetings. Clocks and watches became an important part of everyday life.
At the same time, railroads and telegraph lines were linking faraway places in Canada. No longer did it take weeks or even months for a person or message to get from Vancouver to Halifax, Montreal or Toronto. A telegraph message arrived only minutes after it was sent. The railroad trip took only a matter of days. Now it became important to be able to know what the time was in any part of Canada. It was not good to send a message at 8:00 A.M. from Toronto if the person it was going to would still be asleep in Vancouver.
1. Long ago, at what time did people get up in the morning?
2. Long ago, at what time did people go to bed in the evening?

3. Long ago, how much time did it take to go from Vancouver to Toronto?
4. Why did clocks become important when people started to work in factories?
5. Why did clocks become important when people started to use railroads?
6. Why did clocks become important when people started to send telegraph/phone messages?
Sandford Fleming, an engineer working for the Canadian Pacific Railway, found a solution to the problem. It was quite simple. The earth takes twenty-four hours to rotate on its axis as it goes around the sun. Fleming decided to divide the world into twenty-four time zones, one hour apart.
The idea was this: The globe is divided into 360 equal parts by meridians of longitude. 360 divided by 24 equals 15. Therefore, each time zone would be 15° of longitude. Within those 15° all places would be on the same time. The next 15° to the east would be one hour later—the 15° to the west one hour earlier.
Sandford Fleming’s system of time zones was quickly adopted by the railroads. It soon was in use around the world. Over the years the boundaries of the time zones have changed somewhat. They are no longer exactly fifteen degrees apart. Provincial or state boundaries are now often used to mark the edges of the time zones. But Fleming’s idea remains in use today.
7. Who did Sanford Flemming work for?

8. Why is each time zone 15° of longitude?
Section 3Telling Time and Time Zones
At present there are six time zones in Canada. From east to west they are as follows:
Newfoundland Time Zone Central Time Zone
Atlantic Time ZoneMountain Time Zone
Eastern Time Zone Pacific Time Zone
There used to be a seventh time zone—Yukon Time. The use of Yukon time was ended a few years ago. Today the Yukon is in the Pacific Time Zone.
Section 3: Indicate the time on the clock and below that indicate the time zone across Canada.

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The Time Zones of Canada Section 4
1. Fill in the names of the time zones on the map.
If it is 6am in Victoria, what time is it in the other time zones across the country?
2. Fill in the chart with the correct time, and time zones.

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