Why does the Explorer II have a ‘24’ for the zero hour marker?

[vipereaper30]

Originally Posted by Tools

Zero hour is a countdown, when the bomb goes off.

Zero hour could be midnight but it is most commonly the start of an operation. 0000 is "zero hundred" or "oh hundred" in joint US military applications and much more commonly used than 2400 when specifically referring to midnight. When used as the back end of a time range eg. 1800-2400 then you'll see 2400 most often. But either work if people want to insist.

[Highlatitude]

When I was in the Army people said 00 hundred or they said 24 hundred and it was understood. In written form, one second past 2400 is in the next day so it is 00:00:01 and cannot be 24:00:01 therefore 24:00 is really not 100% appropriate (or should I say 000% appropriate ...no wait...)

On the Exp2 24 hundred is more intuitive because it is a fixed 24 hour scale.

A troubling question from the OP that has shaken us all...