Time prior to Six

Question: At what time immediately prior to Six O'clock the hands of the clock are exactly opposite to each other. Give the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds.

Answer: It is obvious that between 5 O'clock and 6 O'clock the hands will not be exactly opposite to each other. It is also obvious that the hands will be opposite to each other just before 5 O'clock. Now to find exact time:

The hour hand moves 1 degree for every 12 degrees that the minute hand moves. Let the hour hand be X degree away from 5 O'clock. Therefore the minute hand is 12X degree away from 12 O'clock.

Therefore solving for X

Angle between minute hand and 12 O'clock + Angle between 12 O'clock and 4 O'clock + Angle between 4 O'clock and hour hand = 180

12X + 120 + (30-X) = 180

11X = 30

Hence X = 30/11 degrees

(hour hand is X degree away from 5 O'clock)

Now each degree the hour hand moves is 2 minutes.

Therefore minutes are  = 2 * 30/11

= 60/11

= 5.45 (means 5 minutes 27.16 seconds)

Therefore the exact time at which the hands are opposite to each other is = 4 hrs. 54 min. 32.74 seconds

 


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