Do The MATH!!

Here is a little riddle for you!


If a plane leaves Detroit, MI at 6:40 pm on Thursday and flys 8 hours... How can it land in Milan, Italy (over 16 hours later) at 11:25 am on Friday!?


(answer below)

Answer:   TIME ZONES!!! (click the link for the wikipedia page!)

The Problem


If it is midday where you are it must be dark on the opposite side of the earth, it obviously can't be midday, but what time is it? The earth is divided into time zones. The time is the same everywhere within one time zone, but different to all the other time zones.

How Time Zones Work

Because everyone wants to measure their day with the sun being at its highest point at midday, scientists came up with the idea to divide the earth into different time zones. There are 24 hours in a day, so there are 24 time zones. The time is the same everywhere within one time zone, but different to all the other time zones. When you move from one time zone to the next one, you change your watch by one hour. If you are traveling in an easterly direction you move your watch one hour forwards, if you are moving in a westerly direction you move it one hour backwards.


http://funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/timezones.htm


When the sun is directly overhead where you are in Michigan it has been six hours since the sun was directly above me. That is because Italy (Central European Time Zone) is 6 hours ahead of Michigan  (which is in the Eastern Time Zone).






Here is the flight schedule. We will be leaving Detroit and landing in Milan, Italy with a layover in Amsterdam. (A layover is a break between single parts of a trip).


Thu 23 JUN DELTA 242      LV DETROIT              640P   
                                               AR AMSTERDAM     805A

Fri 24 JUN KLM ROYAL                    LV AMSTERDAM     945A         
          DUTCH AIRLINES 3623*        AR MILAN-LINATE  1125A        

Throughout my trip I will be adding posts to this website. Remember that I will comment back to you but because of the time change it may not be right away. If you write to me at 6 pm I will probably be sleeping as it will be midnight in Italy!