Why do clocks run clockwise and not counterclockwise?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 7
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What a great question! The answer is even better... The direction a clock turns is called "clockwise" because that is the direction a clock turns. "Counterclockwise" means the opposite, or counter, to the direction a clock spins. The circular spin of something was labeled "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" after the invention of the clock, not before. So, if clocks had been designed to turn "counterclockwise," the names would be opposite! "Clockwise" means "the direction in which a clock turns." There you go.
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Clocks turn clockwise because the shadow on sundials on the northern hemisphere turns that way.
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Clocks will always run clockwise. If clocks were to run the other way that new direction would be referred to as clockwise. If you are asking why the hands move left to right at the top and right to left at the bottom then the sundial solution is correct.
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Clocks run clockwise and not counterclockwise because we build them to run this way. Also on our number system numbers get greater left to right which on a circle would be clockwise.
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I think it might have to do with the direction of motion to the stars. When I observe the stars travel along the night sky they follow a clockwise direction. That's my best guess.
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Because clocks were invented in the northern hemisphere. had an Australian invented them, they'd go the other way around.
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Because if they ran counterclockwise, they'd be counterclocks.
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