What time is it? Time zones in the United States.Suppose you wanted to take a train trip across the Midwest in the mid-1800s. It wouldn't have been easy to follow the schedule, because each city and town had its own official time, based on when the sun was directly overhead. When it was noon in Cleveland, Ohio, for instance, it might be 11:57 in Columbus, and 11:53 in Cincinnati. That made rail travel a nightmare. So, in 1872, the railroad companies came up with a plan. They adopted a system of nearly 50 time zones for the entire U.S. But that was still too complicated. In 1883, railroad managers met in St. Louis, Missouri, and voted to correct the problem. They reduced the number of standard U.S. time zones from 50 to 4: Eastern Standard Time (EST EST electroshock therapy. EST abbr. electroshock therapy ), Central Standard Time (CST CST abbr. 1. Central Standard Time 2. convulsive shock treatment CST Central Standard Time Noun 1. ), Mountain Standard Time (MST), and Pacific Standard Time (PST PST Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, see there ). Each time zone was about 1,000 miles wide (or 15[degrees] of longitude). Since then, two more time zones have been added: Alaska Standard Time Alaska Standard Time n. Abbr. AST Standard time in the ninth time zone west of Greenwich, England, reckoned at 135°W and used throughout Alaska except for the western Aleutian Islands. Also called Alaska Time. (AKST AKST Alaska Standard Time ) and Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time Ha·wai·i-A·leu·tian Standard Time n. Standard time in the tenth time zone west of Greenwich, England, reckoned at 150° west and used, for example, in Hawaii and the western Aleutian Islands. (HAST). This map shows all six U.S. zones. Study it carefully before answering the questions. QUESTIONS 1. The 50 U.S. states are now divided into how many time zones?-- 2. Each time zone is approximately how many miles wide?-- 3. In which time zone is Houston, Texas?-- 4. It is 10 p.m. in Phoenix, Arizona. What time is it in Orlando, Florida?-- 5. If the 2006 Super Bowl begins at 6:25 p.m. in Detroit, Michigan, what time is that in Los Angeles, California?-- 6. If you took Amtrak's Sunset Limited train from Los Angeles, California, to Miami, Florida, through how many time zones would you travel?-- 7. You live in Los Angeles, California, and want to call your friend in Chicago, Illinois. If it is 10 p.m. in Los Angeles, what time is it in Chicago?- 8. President Bush speaks to the nation at 8 p.m. in Washington, D.C. What time is that in Anchorage, Alaska?-- 9. A small area of the westernmost part of Texas is in which time zone?-- 10. It takes about two hours to fly from Chicago to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . If your plane were to leave Chicago at 4 p.m., when would it land, New York time?-- Answers: 1. six 2. 1,000 3. Central Standard Time (CST) 4. 12 a.m. (midnight) 5.3:25 p.m. PST 6. four 7. 12 a.m. (midnight) 8. 4 p.m (AKST) 9. Mountain Standard Time (MST) 10. 7 p.m. EST |
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