Table of Contents
Why is midnight 12am and not 12pm?
Midnight is exactly 180 degrees apart from noon because the earth is round in the network of geographical coordinates the meridian of Greenwich indicated 12:00 noon Any point on the surface of planet earth at 180 degrees of the meridian of Greenwich or “0” is marking midnight this means that it is neither am nor pm.
Why is it 12 am instead of 12 pm?
“a.m.” means “ante meridiem” which means “before midday” and p.m. means “post meridiem”, which means “after midday”. Consequently to use am/pm to refer to midday, (12noon) is simply wrong (and similarly midnight). The correct terms are 12 noon and 12 midnight, with times in between using am/pm.
Why is 12am before 1am?
It’s all because of the conventions used with the “12-hour clock.” 12:00 am is usually taken to mean midnight (and 12:00 pm is noon). At 59 minutes past midnight it is therefore 12:59 am, but a minute later it’s 1:00 am.
Is midnight 1am or 12am?
24-Hour Time Format
| am/pm | 24-hour |
|---|---|
| 12am (midnight) | 00:00 |
| 1am | 01:00 |
| 2am | 02:00 |
| 3am | 03:00 |
Why is midnight at 12am?
At exactly 12 noon, the Sun is at its highest point in the sky and directly over the meridian. It is therefore neither ‘ante’ (am) nor ‘post’ (pm) meridiem. At 12 midnight it also neither am nor pm.
Is 12pm midday or midnight in UK?
Confusion at noon and midnight
| Device or style | Midnight Start of day | Noon |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Government Publishing Office (2008) | 12 a.m. 12 midnight | 12 p.m. 12 noon |
| Japanese legal convention | 0:00 a.m. | 12:00 a.m. |
| Chicago Manual of Style | noon 12:00 m. | |
| Canadian Press, UK standard | Midnight | Noon |
Why is 12pm before 11pm?
As standard 12:00 AM is taken as the start of the day. Time of the day is divided in two halves (24hour= 12 hours before midday + 12 hours after midday) so the 11 AM is 11th hour before midday as clock strikes 12 again it changes to PM (after midday) so it’s 12 PM after 11 AM and 12 AM after 11 PM.
What time of day is 11 59 pm?
12-hour clock
| 12-hour | 24-hour |
|---|---|
| 11:00 p.m. | 23:00 |
| 11:59 p.m. | 23:59 |
| Midnight (end of day) or shown as start of next day | 24:00 |
| ^ Jump up to: a b c See: §Confusion at noon and midnight |
Does 12 AM exist?
‘Midnight’ refers to 12 o’clock (or 0:00) during the night. When using a 12-hour clock, 12 pm typically refers to noon and 12 am means midnight.