This is why hours must be drawn in horizontal sundials in that manner, and why modern clocks have their numbers set in the same way, and their hands moving accordingly. Then, when the Sun moves in the sky (from east to south to west), the shadow, which is cast on the sundial in the opposite direction, moves with the same sense of rotation (from west to north to east). In order for such a sundial to work north of the equator during spring and summer, and north of the Tropic of Cancer the whole year, the noon-mark of the dial must be placed northward of the pole casting the shadow. Clocks with hands were first built in the Northern Hemisphere (see Clock), and they were made to work like horizontal sundials. A case to point out is how taps and faucets are closed, and screws and bolts are tightened by turning them clockwise and released by turning them counterclockwise respectively.The shadow of a horizontal sundial in the Northern Hemisphere rotates clockwiseĬlocks traditionally follow this sense of rotation because of the clock's predecessor: the sundial. Apart from the clock that uses the clockwise motion alone, other fields like Mathematics and Physics use the two. The clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) terms are used mostly together but for different purposes. The clockwise motion is abbreviated as CW while the counterclockwise motion is abbreviated as CCW (can also be ACW if using the Commonwealth English versions that refers to it as anticlockwise). Counterclockwise, on the other hand, starts from the top position, goes to the left side, proceeds down to the bottom position, then heads to the right side, and finally ends up on the top position. In clockwise rotation, the motion starts from the top position, heads to the right side, goes to the bottom area, heads to the left, and finally goes up to the top position. The major difference between the two rotations is in the direction they take.

The rotation is also referred to as anticlockwise (ACW) according to the Commonwealth English.ĭifference Between Clockwise and Counterclockwise

The movement, in this case, starts from the top, heads to the right, goes down, then follows to the right side, and ends up at the top place. The movement is usually from the top going around to the right, then to the bottom, to the left, and then back to the top position.Ĭounterclockwise (North American English and abbreviated as CCW) is the opposite sense of the clockwise rotation. For counterclockwise (also referred to as anti-clockwise), the direction is in the opposite direction of the clockwise rotation.Īs adjectives, clockwise means moving in a rotary motion like a clock does while counterclockwise is moving in a rotary manner to the left side.Ĭlockwise (usually abbreviated as CW) is the motion that proceeds in a similar direction as a clock’s hands. The movement is usually in a circular fashion which means it’s to the right at the top and the left at the bottom of the circle respectively for clockwise. Both clockwise and counterclockwise are adverbs that describe the movement of an object in the right or left direction.

Clockwise definition