Duane Phillips, age 14, of Upper Tracy, New Brunswick, Canada, for his question:

WHY DO WE HAVE 60 MINUTES IN AN HOUR?   

One of man's mysteries is time. Our way of life depends on a way to record the passage of time, since we must schedule our activities. A timeless world would be at a standstill. It is important that we can record the movement of time from a "before" to a " riow," and with this ability we can project ''future.''   

Those who were first aware of the passage of time probably kept a count of natural repeating events. First, of course, they noted it was light part of the time and dark part of the time. The sun came up on schedule  and soon a cycle called ''day'' was established.

The moon also gave early man an excellent indication of the passage of time. After each 30 day period the moon was back to its full shape after going through a series of reductions.

Seasons probably offered the next indication of a regular schedule for the passage of time. A regular cycle brought first hot weather and then cold weather.

The ancient Babylonian astronomers and astrologers were probably the first to give each day 24 hours and each hour 60 minutes. They divided periods of daylight and darkness into 12 equal parts each and came up with a 24 hour day. They also divided the day's circle into 360 parts called degrees. Then there was a further division, giving each degree 60 minutes.

Later ancient astronomers wanted more accuracy and developed clocks that would show smaller units than the hour. Following the earlier division of the degree into 60 minutes, each minute was divided into 60 seconds. It was set then: The clock's face had 12 divisions with each equal to one hour for the hour hand, five minutes for the minute hand and five seconds for the second hand.

The ancient division of time has continued into modern days. By the 1700s, man had developed accurate clocks and watches to tick off the 60 minute hours.

There is no regular change in the sky that lasts seven days as does our week. This division of time came from the Jewish custom of observing a day of rest, or a Sabbath, every seven days.

Worldwide time zones were established in 1884. The meridian of longitude passing through Greenwich Observatory in England was chosen as the starting point for 12 time zones to the east and 12 to the west.   

Many scientists believe that time has a fundamental quality that can be measured, just as we measure length and mass. Physicist Albert Einstein pointed out that measurements of these quantities are affected by relative motion. Because of his work, time has become popularly known as the fourth dimension.

Some scientists have said that under certain circumstances time might flow backwards. Experiments, however, have not supported this theory.