Reading Time in Hours, Minutes and Seconds: A Complete Guide for Kids

A clock or a timepiece is a device that is used to measure and indicate time accurately. A clock is one of the oldest human inventions. It is essential to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units like the day, the lunar month, year, etc.

The units that are used to measure time are hour, minute, and second. There are three hands in a clock which represent the hour, minute, and second.

• The hour hand is the shorter one and the minute and second hand are longer than the hour hand.
• The hour hand completes one round of the dial in 12 hours.
• The minute hand completes one round of the dial in 1hour.
• The second hand completes one round of the dial in 1 minute.

The tiny lines between the numbers denote minutes. There are 5 lines between the two numbers. The minute hand takes 5 minutes to move from one number to the next number.

So, when the minute hand moves from one number to another, then it moves 5 minutes.

Relation Between Hour, Minutes and Seconds

In one full day, the hour hand completes two rounds of the dial. So, 1 day = 2 × 12 hours = 24 hours

Similarly,

1 hour = 60 minutes,

1 minute = 60 seconds.

How to read time from the clock?

The face of the clock is divided into 12 equal parts and each part is divided into 5 parts by tiny lines. So, there are total 12 × 5 = 60 tiny lines on the face of the clock. The hour hand, minute hand, and second-hand tell us the time from the clock.

It is explained further with examples.

Example: Read the time.

Answer:

The hour (shorter) hand points to the 12.

The minute hand points to the 3.

3 × 5 minute = 15 minutes

Hence, the time on the clock is 12 o’clock 15 minutes.

Terms in clock

The hands of the clock move around from left to right. Some terms we used to define time. Here it is explained briefly.

• Quarter past:

When the minute hand is at 3, it implies 3 × 5 = 15 minutes. This is one-quarter of an hour. The time is said to be a quarter past hour. This means 15 minutes past after one hour. The below picture it is showing a quarter past 8.

• Half-past:

When the minute hand is at 6, it implies 6 × 5 = 30 minutes. This is half-past an hour. This means 30 minutes to past one hour. The below picture, it is showing half-past 1.

• Quarter to:

When the minute hand is at 9, it implies 9 × 5 = 45 minutes. This is three-quarters of an hour. The time is said to be a quarter to an hour. This means 15 minutes to complete one hour. The below picture is showing quarter to 3.

Uses of AM and PM

AM and PM are Latin words that are used to refer to the time before midday and after midday respectively.

• AM

1. Full form of AM is Ante meridiem
2. It is used to denote the time between midnight 12:00 and 11:59 in the morning.

• PM

1. Full form of PM is post meridiem.
2. It is used to denote the time between 12 in the morning and midnight 11:59.

The below picture defines the time of a whole day.