A new mapping from XKCD ’s Randal Monroe offers a glance into a bizarre alternative earthly concern where each country is forcibly extort into its several clip zone(s ) .
In principle , time zone are based on the position of the Sun congenator to the Earth ’s surface , but most nation take time zones that work best for them . China , for example , has only one time zone , even though it technically covers five designated ones . Canada has six fourth dimension zones and Russia has a thumping 11 . Other countries , for either geographical or commercial-grade purposes , take nearby prison term geographical zone to make thing a bit easier .
But as Monroe ’s fresh function usher , the ball looks pretty weird when the shape of countries are modify to make their chosen time zone(s ) accommodate the physical realities of the Earth .
China , with its lonely clip zona , gets absolutely smushed , while Greenland — with eastern dominion that leapfrog across several time zones — grows a creepy-crawly pair of arms . Finland , Mongolia , and the Democratic Republic of Congo suddenly get disproportional geographic theatrical , while Argentina and Chile look like toothpicks . Canada and the United States look reasonably rational , while Russia , with its skew sentence zone , is practically unrecognisable .
Above is a translation of the map showing the orb ’s 24 sentence zone and how the countries ’ preferent ways of keeping time were shift to fit . If nothing else , it ’s a reminder that human race ’s way of doing thing is rarely well - aligned with nature .
[ xkcdviaFlowing Data ]
mapsSciencetime zonesxkcd
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