The minute hand and hour hand both move clockwise to mark time and are in the same position at 12 noon or midnight.
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see you in an hour. Of course it takes more than an hour for the hour hand (the "BIG" hand) and the minute hand (the "LITTLE" hand) to line up but it does happen once each hour. Keep in mind, the hour hand is known as the BIG hand because an hour is bigger than a minute, which is indicated by the LITTLE hand.
Disregarding the second hand (for a few seconds), the hour and minute hands overlap (point in the same direction) 22 times in a 24 hour period. It happens once after every hour except the 12 o'clock hour. After 12 o'clock, the next occurance is after 1 o'clock. The fractions of a minute required for these overlaps do not always coincide with the number of seconds that the second hand would have to register in order for the second hand to 'join' the hour and minute hands. The only times that all three hands are perfectly overlapping (pointing in the same direction) is at 12 midnight and 12 noon. So the second minute and hour hands are in the exact same place only twice during every 24 hour period. The hour and minute hands join each other every 65.454545 minutes, or 32.727272 degrees. The minute hand advances 163.636363 degrees each time the hour and minute hands overlap.
The short one Yes, the hour hand is traditionally shorter than the minute hand. However, the hour hand is known as the BIG hand because an hour is bigger than a minute. That means the minute hand is known as the LITTLE hand since a minute is LITTLE when compared to an hour. This is the historical explanation of the labels for the two hands, based on function an expressed in form by the hour hand having a broader, albeit shorter, design than the minute hand which is longer but narrower. Hour = bigger than minute = the BIG hand Minute = smaller than hour = the LITTLE hand
The minute hand will cross over the hour hand once every hour. So in 12 hours, the answer is 12 times.
It takes the minute hand one hour to do this, and it takes the hour hand twelve hours to do it.