would the lengths of a soalr day be the same as the length of a sidereal day ? Why or why not?

Answer 1

No, a solar day is longer because the Earth moves 1/365th of the way around the Sun in a day, so it has to rotate almost one extra degree to bring the sun back to the same place in the sky as compared to a star. A mean solar day is exactly 24 hours long, but a sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds long.

Answer 2

A sidereal day is the amount of time required to rotate 360 degrees.

A solar day is the amount of time required to go from local zenith of the Sun to the next local zenith.

Since the Earth orbits the Sun in about 365.25 days, the Earth has to rotate nearly 361 degrees to reach the next zenith.

Sidereal days are virtually constant at 23 hr, 56 min, and 4.1 sec.

The mean solar day (average solar day) is 24 hours exactly.

The length of a true solar day varies over the course of the year. The longest occurs around Dec 23 or 24 between the winter solstice (Dec 20 or 21) and the Earth's perigee (around Jan 5 or 6). The shortest occurs around Sep 17 between the autumnal equinox (Sep 21) and apohelion (around July 5). Comparing the dates, it's apparent that the angle of the Earth's axis relative to the Sun has more affect than the Earth's orbit, but that's because the Earth's orbit is nearly circular.

Answer 3

No, the Solar day is longer than the Sidereal day.

The Sidereal day, relative to a distant Star, represents a better reference for the rotation rate of the Earth.

The Solar day is longer than the Sidereal day because of the rate the Earth orbits the sun. To understand this just look at the Moon. We always see the same face of the Moon because the Moon is "Tidal Locked" with the Earth. That is, it rotates at the same rate it orbits. Hence, the Moon doesn't see a rise and fall of the Earth.

Answer 4

No--A solar day lasts from the time the sun is in a given position in the sky to the time it returns to that position twenty four hours later. A sidereal day lasts from the time any other star other than a planet starts at a given position and continues till it returns to that position, twenty four hours and four minutes later, due to both Earth's rotation and her movement through her orbit.