WHY DO CLOCKS ROTATE CLOCKWISE?

Have you ever wondered why clocks rotate to the right rather than to the left? This standard for the rotation of clock hands has become an everyday part of our lives as we regularly refer to turning things clockwise and counter-clockwise. The standard evolved about 800 years ago as clock makers imitated the motion of shadows as they moved across traditional sundials. Earth rotates around the sun in an anticlock wise direction (counterclockwise)so the shadow of an object on earth would move in a clockwise direction.Early clock makers hailed from the Northern Hemisphere where shadows on sundials moved from the West to East as the day progressed. Thus when the clock was first created, the hands moved “West to East” through noon (the top of the hour), and that direction eventually became known as ‘clockwise.’