PET 2026 · CSAT

Clock hands and relative angular speed

The 12-hour relative-angle cycle from coincidence to opposition and back

PDF ↓PNG ↓
MINDMAPS FOR UPSCPET 2026 · VISUAL REVISION

Clock hands and relative angular speed

The 12-hour relative-angle cycle from coincidence to opposition and back

Concept map
12-Hour Relative-Angle Cycle
Angular speed of clock hands12369Illustration: 3:00 → 90°Minute hand: 6° per minuteHour hand: 0.5° per minuteRelative speed = 5.5°/min
Angular speed of clock handsSwipe sideways to explore the diagram.

Angular speeds

  • At 12:00, the hands coincide; their relative separation is 0°.
  • In 1 minute, the minute hand moves 360° ÷ 60 = 6° and the hour hand moves 30° ÷ 60 = 0.5°.
  • Thus the minute hand gains 6° − 0.5° = 5.5° (or 11/2°) per minute over the hour hand.

Angle calculation

  • At h:m, with h in 0–11, raw separation is d = |30h − 5.5m| degrees.
  • Reduce d into 0°–360° and use min(d, 360° − d) when the smaller angle between hands is asked.
  • In each relative lap, hands reach 90° separation twice: at 90° and at 270° of relative gain.

Opposite hands

  • Hands form a straight line in opposite directions when the minute hand gains 180°.
  • After 12:00, the first opposition occurs at 180 ÷ 5.5 = 360/11 = 32 8/11 minutes past 12.
  • Between 5:00 and 7:00, opposition occurs only once, exactly at 6:00 (not twice).

Relative laps and counts

  • A full relative lap of 360° takes 360 ÷ 5.5 = 720/11 = 65 5/11 minutes to return to 0°.
  • In 12 hours (720 min), relative gain is 720 × 5.5° = 3960° = 11 × 360°, or 11 full laps.
  • Each relative lap has one opposition; count coincident endpoints only once. In 24 h: 22 oppositions.
Understand · Connect · Recallmindmapsforupsc.com

Practise this concept · संबंधित प्रश्न

One visual, several questions. These links open the original paper at the matching question.

25 Oct · Shift 2 · 2026

Sources & study notes · स्रोत

Independent revision material, linked to the paper’s concepts. The question papers and answer-key status are available on OpenPYQ.