how long?

[nect4r]

who decided how long a second would be? and how?!

[pinus]

We go back to the Babylonians for this (if I remember the history of mathematics correctly) They worked to base60, and so the first order for dividing one degree or one hour was what we know as the minute; the second order was one sixtieth of the minute, which we know as the second

[Eno-Missy]

It sure was the Babylonians who were responsible for giving us the worlds time structure! It all started with the cycle of the sun.. which the Babylonians averaged to taking 360 days to revolve around the earth. The idea of time wasn't the first thing to be developed from this observation, the first was in fact the form of the circle, with it's 360 degrees. We still to this day use the Babylonian symbol for the sun as our symbol for degree!!

[Yinzer]

If this is the case than how come a second is divided into hundredths?

[keltik]

i believe its because until recent decimal times nobody could accurately measure less than a second so never cared.