Est Definition & Meaning

The largest city in the Eastern Time Zone is New York City, which is the largest city in the United States. Therefore, to convert EST to CST, you should discount one hour; to convert EST to MST you should discount two hours, and to convert EST to PST, you should discount three hours. Additionally, Phenix City, Alabama, and several nearby communities in Russell County, Alabama, unofficially observe Eastern Time.[11] This is due to their close proximity to Columbus, Georgia, which is on Eastern Time.

It is four hours behind UTC during summer Daylight saving time, when it is called Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). It is estimated that almost 142 million people reside in the Eastern Standard Time Zone of the United States. New York (over 19 million people), Florida (almost 17 million people), and Pennsylvania (around 12.5 million people) contribute the most to the total number of residents. However, even though this number seems pretty large, it is not.

However, the need for the development of more exact mechanisms for calculating time was becoming more and more necessary. As a result, in the Middle Ages, there were already some advancements. In fact, in the Middle Ages people used to calculate the time based on Sundials. It’s a device that can tell the exact time according to the apparent position of the sun in the sky. Sundials looked pretty much like today’s watches and soon, mechanical clocks began to develop.

Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is used during the remainder of the year. Almost half of the population in the USA live in the EST time zone. It spans from northern Canada and south to Panama near the equator. Almost half of the population in the USA live in the ET time zone.

1. Therefore, to convert EST to CST, you should discount one hour; to convert EST to MST you should discount two hours, and to convert EST to PST, you should discount three hours.
2. In 1918 the country declared the official law with the Standard Time Act and the United States started adopting the time zones based on the recommendations of the railroads.
3. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is a standard time zone in use from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March—when Daylight Saving Time (DST) is not in effect.
4. It was the time when cities started setting their two clocks based on the sun position and as a result, each city had its own time, which was a bit different from others.

As simple as that, there are 24 hours within a day and 360 degrees of longitude around the globe. If we divide this 360 degrees by 24 hours, we will get 15 degrees of longitude, equal to a one-hour difference between each time zone. Each of them is measured from a starting, “zero” point called the Greenwich Meridian because it’s located at England’s Greenwich Observatory. Time at this place is known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Universal Time. The reason was that people couldn’t adapt to the changes so quickly and they continued using old times for years.

Current EST time

China, for example, is entirely in one time zone despite having almost 1.38 billion people (as of 2016). The Chinese government had decided the entire country should follow Beijing time – convenient or not. That’s how ancient people used to find out the time during the day. While many people find these methods still very interesting in today’s advanced world, no one argues that the development of worldwide time zones was an important step in the history of mankind.

Eastern Time (ET) is the easternmost time zone in the United States. In everyday usage, EST is often referred to as Eastern Time (ET) or the Eastern Time Zone. Unlike other time zone denominations, which have a fixed time, Eastern Time refers to a geographical area where the time changes twice yearly as Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins and ends. Eastern Standard Time is UTC-5, while Eastern Daylight Time is UTC-4.

Time zones Tools

It spans from northern Canada and all the way south to Panama near the equator. Most of Canada observes daylight saving time synchronously with the United States, with the exception of Saskatchewan, Yukon,[8] and several other very localized areas. In the case of the Eastern Standard Time zone, the time is 5 hours behind UTC time. The offset is usually one or more whole hours, but https://www.currency-trading.org/ there are countries with offsets of 30 minutes (India, for example) and even 45 minutes (Nepal, for example). The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is the easternmost time zone in the United States.

Eastern Standard Time spans from northern Canada to South Panama which is near the Equator. EST shares the border with Atlantic Standard Time (AST) in the east, while it’s surrounded by Central Standard Time (CST) in the west. For millions of years, people measured time https://www.forex-world.net/ by using natural resources such as the sun or moon. Both ancient people and those from the 18th century used to observe the sun every day in order to find out what time of the day it was. Consequently, the majority of people were well-aware of nature and its wonders.

What Is Eastern Standard Time?

In fact, most people erroneously believe they are in the UTC time zone when they are really in the GMT time zone. And if you’re after some fun time zone facts, make sure to read the entire page – we’ve listed some weird and wonderful time zone facts at the bottom of the post. Therefore, when it’s noon in the Eastern time zone, it will be 5 p.m.

Eastern Time Zone GMT/UTC offset

Specifically, when the sun was the highest in the sky, they could tell that it was noon. Obviously, they couldn’t calculate the exact time but it was enough to plan their day and make predictions about the following events. All time zones around the world are UTC plus or minus some time (usually one or more hours). Anything that is West from the zero longitude will have a minus offset, and anything that is East will have a plus offset. Eastern Time Zone (ET) is the time zone for the eastern part of the Americas including the United States, Canada and parts of South America and the Caribbean. ET is five hours behind UTC in winter, which is called Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Related timezone

Standard Time was quickly spread across the ocean and reached westward in 1938 since the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) introduced new principles of time-zone management from railroads. The states rapidly adapted to the new time standards and implemented them using EST. For instance, Kentucky added its counties to the Eastern Standard Time in the 1940s, and the process finished in 1961 when the entire state switched https://www.forexbox.info/ to EST. According to their decision, traveling east from the prime meridian meant gaining an hour with each time zone, while traveling west meant moving backward by an hour. Today the great part of the United States and plenty of other countries accept Eastern Standard Time. The mechanism of Eastern Standard Time (EST) is pretty easy to understand, especially if you know the basic principles of time zones.

Specifically, using EST was accompanied by plenty of advantages in the fields of travel and communication. In 1918 the country declared the official law with the Standard Time Act and the United States started adopting the time zones based on the recommendations of the railroads. To make things simple, all time zones are defined by the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is a time standard. However, most people don’t know exactly what a time zone is, and they may not know what UTC is, either.