Have you ever wondered why the hands of a clock and a watch move from left to right and not the other way around? In fact it was just an accident.
Ancient civilizations developed mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. The first-ever clock, the sundial, was designed by the Egyptians. Its working was based on the rotation of Earth around the Sun.
As Earth turns on its axis, the Sun appears to move across the sky. The shadows cast by the Sun move in a clockwise (hence the definition of clockwise) direction for objects in the Northern Hemisphere. If the same sundial were to be used in the Southern Hemisphere, the numbers would have to be backwards as the shadows cast by the Sun in Australia move in an anticlockwise direction.
Since the first clock was designed in Egypt in the Northern Hemisphere, every clock designed later followed the same rule i.e.. clockwise. If our civilization had developed in the Southern Hemisphere, say in Southern Africa, New Zealand or in Australia, the clock would have moved in the anticlockwise direction, simply In which direction do the blades of a fan rotate?
Cut a small piece of stem from a shrub with two leaves on top. Drop it from a height. In which direction does it rotate while falling down?
Interesting facts:
In June 2014, the Bolivian government reversed the order of a traditional clock calling it The Clock of South. The numbers and hands on the clock were counter-clockwise. The clock is displayed at the Bolivian Congress building. The idea was to encourage Bolivians to think out of the box. The government also gifted delegates at the G77 and China summit in Bolivia with anticlockwise desk clocks in the shape of the Bolivian map.
The astronomical clock in Munster Cathedral, Germany runs counter-clockwise. Made in the 16th century, it indicates hours and minutes simultaneously.
Picture Credit : Google
