2007-01-11 04:27:36 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You'd think 24 hours, but you'd be wrong. As the earth revolves around the sun, the angle where the sun is relative to the earth changes a bit. It's not much, but it means that it takes a bit more than one rotation to get the sun back to the position it used to be in. Thus, the 24 hour solar day doesn't correspond exactly to the earth's rotation. The stars, however, are a reliable indicator of the rotation. Astronomers use something called sidereal time to locate stars accurately. A sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds. This is the amount of time it takes the earth to make one turn on its axis. Check the source listed for more information.
If you're referring to the earth's axis moving by precession, it's a bout 25,765 years. See the second source article for more information.
2007-01-11 04:42:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Loads of people fell for this trap.
It is indeed 23h56m and NOT 24 hours but it is amazing hard to convince people about this.
It is 24 hours between midday and midday but during this day the earth has moved 1/365'th of the way around the sun which means that the direction of the sun in the sky has changed by the same angle. It takes the earth another 4 minutes to spin this extra bit.
It is hard to explain so think of the simple situation where the earth does not rotate - it always faces the same direction. In 1 year the earth would rotate around the sun or thinking of it in a different point of view it looks like the sun rotates once around the earth despite the fact that this earth is not rotating.
Just think about it, eventually you will go Ah! and understand it.
2007-01-12 16:08:35 · answer #2 · answered by m.paley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It takes a 24 hours and 58 minutes to make one rotation on the earths axis.
2007-01-11 12:32:09 · answer #3 · answered by Richie B. 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
If you mean a precesion cyle (the circular motion 'wobble' the poles make around the axis), then this is 26000 years
2007-01-11 12:38:22 · answer #4 · answered by Bill N 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Just about 24 hours.
2007-01-11 12:34:46 · answer #5 · answered by willow oak 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
24 hrs
2007-01-11 15:49:02 · answer #6 · answered by CLIVE C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
24 hours.
2007-01-11 12:34:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
about 24 hour ish
2007-01-14 07:08:27 · answer #8 · answered by ken 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope, This is a joke...15 minutes
2007-01-11 16:52:56 · answer #9 · answered by pop c 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
24 hours,the length of a day.
2007-01-11 12:37:28 · answer #10 · answered by dory 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋