Why Do Clocks Spin Clockwise?

Imagine the sun is a giant flashlight in the sky. In our part of the world, it rises on the left and sets on the right. A long time ago, people made sundials to tell time by watching this shadow move across the numbers. The shadow went from left to right, just like the numbers on your clock today.

This started in ancient Egypt and Babylon. They looked up at the sun every day. When you watch a clock now, it moves in that same circle as the sun's shadow. That is why we say clockwise for going forward or turning right.

If you lived on the other side of the world, things might look different because the sun still moves the same way relative to the earth's tilt. However, most big clocks in Europe copied the sundials and sent those rules all over the planet. So today, almost everywhere, when we move forward in time, our hands go clockwise.