Question.
What is the use of the standard meridian?
(Chapter-1 India — Location, Class 11 NCERT geography "India Physical Environment")
Answer.
The standard meridian is used to measure time in a country or region.
In the case of India, the longitudinal extent of India is 68.7°E to 97.25°E longitude. The time difference from the east to the west end of India is about 2 hours i.e. in Arunachal Pradesh the sun rises 2 hours earlier than in Gujarat. If there was no standard meridian then every place in India would have its own time which would make it difficult to manage administrative work in India. The same case applies to other countries as well. Hence the specific longitude is chosen as the standard meridian for a country to form the standard time for the whole country or part of the country.
For example, India's standard meridian is 82°30' East longitude. It is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Time. The local time of longitude 82°30'E shall be the time of the whole of India, irrespective of the local time (regarding longitude) of an area.
Each country has its own standard meridian. Some countries like India have one standard meridian and some countries like the USA, Canada, Russia, etc have multiple standard meridians.
There are seven time zones in the United States which mean seven standard meridians in the United States.
You may like also:
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon