Why are there 60 minutes in an hour?
There are 60 minutes in an hour because of the ancient Babylonians, who used a number system based on 60. The Greeks later used it for astronomy, and it passed down to our clocks.
The Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia counted in base 60, called a sexagesimal system, more than 4,000 years ago. Sixty is a very convenient number because it can be divided evenly by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30, making fractions easy to work with.
Greek astronomers such as Ptolemy used the Babylonian system to divide circles and time into 60 parts. In Latin, the first division was called pars minuta prima, the first small part, which became minute. The second division, pars minuta secunda, the second small part, became second.
Why 24 hours?
The 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians, who divided daytime and nighttime into 12 parts each. Combining Egyptian hours with Babylonian divisions gave us 24 hours of 60 minutes, each of 60 seconds. During the French Revolution, France briefly tried a decimal clock with 10 hours a day, but it was soon abandoned.
Did You Know?
Angles still use the same system. A degree can be divided into 60 minutes of arc, and each minute into 60 seconds of arc.