Patrick Young, age 14, of Longview, Washington, for his question:

HOW DID WE GET THE MINUTE?

A minute is a unit used to measure both time and angles. In time, 60 minutes make up one hour and each minute is divided into 60 seconds. In measuring angles, 60 minutes make up one degree. A circle is divided into 360 degrees.

The circle was first divided into 360 degrees by ancient civilizations, either the Babylonians, the Egyptians or the Chaldeans. Later, clocks became accurate enough to need smaller units than the hour, so clockmakers, following the astronomers' division of the degree, divided the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.

The minute in time is an exact measurement, which means exactly so much time.

The minute of an angle is an exact portion of a circle, and is independent of the size of the circle. But if the angle is denoted by a linear measurement along the circumference, the distance of a minute depends on the circle's diameter.

For example,  a minute on a baseball measures only a small fraction of an inch. On the earth's surface, a minute is one nautical mile, or about 6,076 feet.