Timeline for Always orient a sundial towards polar north?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 19 at 4:16 | comment | added | david | Historical trivia: telegraphs predated long-distance trains in Australia, so time zones were implemented specifically to suit inter-state telegraph commerce. | |
| Jul 18 at 19:15 | comment | added | Darth Pseudonym | I mean heck, time zones were only invented in the 1880s to make train scheduling less of a nightmare. Used to be every town just set their clocks by local noon and the difference didn't matter much unless you were trying to coordinate across long distances. | |
| Jul 18 at 13:37 | vote | accept | Paul J. Lucas | ||
| Jul 18 at 13:36 | comment | added | Paul J. Lucas | The hour lines are static offsets already. Back when sundials were invented, timezones didn't exist, so none of this mattered. But with timezones, I think what @ChrisH is saying is that to make a "modern" sundial that takes timezones into account, not only do you need to draw the hour lines at offsets for a specific latitude, but you could rotate just the dial plate (leaving the gnomon pointing north) to compensate for your longitude and offset within your timezone from its 0 point. | |
| Jul 18 at 12:04 | comment | added | Edheldil | Unless the dial has different scales for different seasons or months, writing static offset on it does not even make sense, does it? Solar noon oscillates up to 16 minutes around the clock noon during a year. | |
| Jul 18 at 10:48 | comment | added | Chris H | Note that most permanent marker inks aren't very photo-stable (e.g. black Sharpie is not a good idea for garden plant labels as it will fade in a few weeks). So that would make it a good temporary test rather than a permanent modification. Except you can't trust that either on materials like brass, because they can leave a region that doesn't weather the same as the rest | |
| Jul 18 at 5:41 | history | edited | Chappo Hasn't Forgotten | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added more detail.
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| Jul 18 at 5:28 | history | answered | Chappo Hasn't Forgotten | CC BY-SA 4.0 |