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You are here: Home / Odds / Why Do We Have Daylight Savings Time?

Why Do We Have Daylight Savings Time?

April 19, 2020 by Karen Hill

We have Daylight Savings Time for the very reason its name suggests, to save daylight.

When Daylight Savings begins in the spring, we turn the clock back an hour, so that “clock time” is one hour later than “sun time.” Instead of the sun’s setting at 7:30 or so, it goes down at 8:30, giving people an extra hour of daylight after they finish work or school.

Of course, this also means that the sun will rise an hour later. In farming areas, where work must begin very early in the morning, Daylight Savings Time is often not observed.

Daylight Savings was first adopted in Germany, in 1915, and began in the United States three years later.

The abbreviation for Daylight Savings Time is D. T , as opposed to S. T. for “Standard Time.” So during the summer, the time on the East Coast is E.D.T. for “Eastern Daylight Time.”

The first person to suggest the use of Daylight Savings was Benjamin Franklin!

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Filed Under: Odds

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Why Don’t All Months Have the Same Number of Days?
Next Post: What Is the “Secret of Stradivarius”? »

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