Why do we say the sun rises and sets?

Question

When it doesn't.....you'd think this day and age people would be more observant about things.

Answer 1

It comes from those times when people believed the earth was still and the sun revolved around it.
No one bothered changing it from "the sun appearing in the east because earth's terminator is now reaching us" (and the equivalently heavy yet scientifically accurate similar moniker for the sunset) because it is a bit harder to say.
Life is full of such notions. Why do we say "new moon" when it is the same old moon that has been there for 4 billion years?

It does not hurt -- except the few oddballs still in the "flat earth society" (see link, I mean there we are in the 21st century, and those weirdos claim that they have "scientific evidence" to show the earth is flat...)

Answer 2

Actually, it does rise and set. All motion is relative. From the Earth's perspective the Sun goes around it. From the Sun's perspective the Earth is a bit spinney. Einstein's basic idea was there is no preferred or absolute frame of reference for observing motion or acceleration. And yes this does have some fascinating implications.

Answer 3

Because the alternative to "the sun rises" is "the rotation of the earth in an easterly direction causes the sun to appear to increase its altitude from a negative value relative to the observer's horizon to a postive value relative to that horizon." Can you imagine that on the morning news? Instead of the weatherman saying "The sun rises at 6:42 this morning" she would say "The rotation of the earth in an easterly direction this morning will cause the sun to appear to increase its altitude from a negative value relative to the observer's horizon to a postive value relative to that horizon at 6:42."

Answer 4

For the same reason why you would tell me that i am standing still if am not moving......when infact everyone of us is always moving along with the earth's rotation even though we are standing still. We (humans) have always perceived things relative to us. When you say...so and so person is "moving", that means he/she is moving relative to some stationary object or person. In the similar lines, since we are on this planet and sun "seems to be" rising and setting, we call it so. But i am sure most of the population knows about Earth's rotation and I am sure they understand that infact its the earth that is rotating around the sun.

Answer 5

what planet do you live on? the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. rises means up, the sun goes up, sets means down ,the sun goes down ,about 6:00pm, that's pretty darn observant , i saw the sun rise this morning and i saw it set this evening

Answer 6

you would think people would observe that the sun in fact will rise and set in one direction or another.

Answer 7

True, but it appears to rise in the sky in th AM and set on the horizon at night. Great visual!

Answer 8

b/c no one cares! everyone knows what we mean when we say that. besides, do you want to be the one to explain that 'sunrise' is an incorrect term to a pile of kindergarteners or whatever.

It is language, it conveys meaning, terms like sunrise and sunset are actually rather pleasantly unambiguous in the meaning they convey - why mess with that when so much of our language has gone all higgedly-piggedly all on its own? Why create more chaos?

Answer 9

People started saying that before they had a good understanding of how things really work, and it's not that important for us to change it now.

Answer 10

The sun always comes up and goes down, sometimes the weather is bad and we can't see it.