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The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states "By convention, 12 AM denotes midnight and 12 PM denotes noon. Because of the potential for confusion, it is advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight". [34] E. G. Richards in his book Mapping Time (1999) provided a diagram in which 12 a.m. means noon and 12 p.m. means midnight. [35]
A study of motor accidents in Sweden between 1987 and 1991 found that the time around 5:00 pm had by far the most accidents: around 1,600 at 5:00 pm, compared to around 1,000 each at 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. This trend may have been influenced by the afternoon rush hour, but the morning rush hour showed a much smaller increase. [16]
In these cases, exact and unambiguous communication of time is critical. If someone mistakes 5:00 AM for 5:00 PM in a hospital for example, when medication or other medical treatment is needed at a certain time, the outcome could be dire. Thus 24-hour time (5:00 PM written as 17:00) is used.
At the equinoxes sunrise is around 6 a.m. (Latin: ante meridiem, before noon), and sunset around 6 p.m. (Latin: post meridiem, after noon). In the modern 24-hour clock, counting the hours starts at midnight, and hours are numbered from 0 to 23. Solar noon is always close to 12:00, again differing according to the equation of time.
Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for meridiem, literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for post meridiem, literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour clock) or 1200 (military time). Solar noon is the time when the Sun appears to contact the local celestial meridian.
In the 24-hour time notation, the day begins at midnight, 00:00 or 0:00, and the last minute of the day begins at 23:59. Where convenient, the notation 24:00 may also be used to refer to midnight at the end of a given date [3] — that is, 24:00 of one day is the same time as 00:00 of the following day.
12 o'clock usually refers the time as shown on a 12-hour clock, either noon - 12 o'clock at daytime - or midnight - 12 o'clock at nighttime. 12 o'clock may also refer to: 12-hour clock, a time convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods Noon, 12 o'clock in the daytime, as opposed to midnight
The English term noon is also derived from the ninth hour. This was a period of prayer initially held at three in the afternoon but eventually moved back to midday for unknown reasons. [12] The change of meaning was complete by around 1300. [13] The terms a.m. and p.m. are still used in the 12-hour clock, as opposed to the 24-hour clock.