How many minutes in a year?

• What is time?

Evert thing in this universe is bounded with time. It is said there is no beginning and no end to time which makes it most valuable quantity. There are many definitions of time that is true in the respective sense. But according to science time is continues sequence of events happening around us. Time is the component of almost all kind of calculation specially if we want to uncover the rate of change of events. Time is also considered as fourth dimension along with rest of spatial dimension. If we look into physics quantities then time is the one of the fundamental physical quantities that is calculated in International Units (SI).

• How time is calculated?

 If we want to find out how many minutes in a year then we must know how time is calculated. Time is usually calculated in intervals by observing the difference between two intervals. Historically human use to calculate time with sunrise and sunset. Later human discovered pendulums which took us to modern clocks. Even today when we want to know time, we look at the wrist watches and or digital clocks to get the time. So, clock tells us more about the time with better diversified and composed form.

• Breaking the time into smaller units

Over the years humans have divided time into years, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Year is the largest and second is the smallest unite of time. Year us derived from Julian year that defined year duration and seconds was defined by SI system of units. If we want to accurately calculate the number of minutes in a year then we have to understand the significance of time from largest to smallest units that is from year to seconds as follows.

• Year

Year is the time required by earth to complete its rotation around the sun. This time is same for any astronomical object either earth or any space satellite around the sun. If the take this time into numbers, then year contain a total 365 days which is exact according to Gregorian calendar and 365.2425 days which is according to Juian calendar.

• Month

Month is the unit of time based upon the orbital period of moon around the earth. This time division was originated from lunar cycles and calendars which was used by humans. Gregorian calendar which is used internationally consider 12 months for a year with February with 28 days and 29 days during a leap year.

• Week

Week is the shorter unit of time. The current period of week comprises of 7 days whose roots are attached with the Babylonians who used to have calendar of week for 7 days. Historically humans had different duration of weeks according to different cultures and traditions like Egypt and Etruscans.

• Day

Day is one of the smallest unit times which is based upon the duration during which earth completes its rotation around its axis. Day can be considered as basic central unit that further leads to weeks months and eventually years. Day completion is experienced from the intervals like morning, afternoon, evening and night which is total duration of 24 hours.

• Hours

Established in the ancient near East hour is the most frequently examined and calculated unit of time. There are total 24 hours in a day and that is the reason that is was known as 1/24  of the day. There is no difference in the duration of time worldwide unlike days or weeks which were different for different cultures and communities historically.

• Minutes

Minute has historical ties with Latin word Pars minuta prima which means first small part. It is further division of time from hour into smaller parts. It is very integral unit of time which is widely examined during calculation relevant to rate of change of quantities.

• Seconds

Second is the smallest unit of time as far as calculation of how many minutes in a year is concerned. Seconds are based upon the caesium clocks. Calculation of time for seconds are so precise that a leap second is added as speed of earth rotation slows down to sync with the Earth’s rotation  

• Calculating Number of minutes in a year in simple steps. 

Since we have already broken-down time from years to seconds and we know a year consists of 12 months, month comprises of days, days of 24 hours and hours of 60 minutes.

• Step1. Finding Total number of minutes in day,

For calculating number of minutes in a year firstly we can find number of minutes in a day by simply multiplying the minutes with total number of hours in a day.

Total minutes in an hour = 60

Total number of hours in a day = 24.

Total number of minutes in a day= 60χ24=1440

Total number of minutes in a day = 1440. 

• Step2. Total number of minutes in year.

Total number minutes in a day = 1440

Total number of days in a year = 365

Total number of minutes in a year = 365ꭓ 1440= 525,600

Total number of minutes in a year = 525,600 per year.

This is the method which is widely accepted and used but there is a second school of thought which considers the exact time of earth that earth takes to complete its rotation around the earth which is exactly 3651/4. 3651/4 becomes 365 days with additive 6 hours of the next day. These 6 hours are responsible for the extra day in Feb month during a leap year.

• Now we will calculate number of minutes in a leap year

For calculating total number of minutes in leap year we will add up the extra 24 hours minutes in our calculation which are 360 for 6 hours like

 Extra Number of hours = 24.

 Number of minutes in one hour= 60.

Total extra hours during leap year= 24ꭓ60=1440.

 

Total number of minutes in leap year= 525,600 + 1440 = 527,040 min.

 

• Application of Number of minutes in a year.

Minutes in a year are used in various mathematical calculations. It has wide applications in physics related calculation and numerical that tell us the how fast or slow objects move with rate of change of time. Most of the scientific calculations require numbers or quantities in smallest units and for that purposes minutes in a year can be used to elaborate time events in shorter parts. Precise calculation is possible with this division of time.

• Conclusion

Time is the most valuable quantity with no limits towards beginnings and endings. Historically it was impossible to calculate minutes in a year because different traditions and communities had their own parameters for calculation of sequence of events. Later man evolved and developed organized division of time from largest unit year to smallest unit second. Now minutes in a year can be calculated by multiplying the total number of minutes in a day with total number of days in a year which is 525,600. The calculation is slightly different for the leap year with the addition of 24 hours which is 527,040. Minutes in a year are widely used for precise calculation for measurement of events during physics’ and mathematical problems.