I know the answer, do you?
hint: it's not 24 hours.
2007-02-08 18:47:10 · 14 answers · asked by snilubez 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Ok it's 23 hours and 56 minutes, But can anyone explain why?
2007-02-08 19:02:15 · update #1
Why is it not 24 hours? because certainly a day lasts 24 hours.
2007-02-08 19:42:28 · update #2
The quick answer is that's how long it takes for the Earth to rotate once relative to the rest of the universe, 23 hours 56 minutes. Because the Earth is also orbiting the sun in the same direction as it is spinning, it has to spin a little extra to "catch up" and face the sun as it did the day before, taking 4 extra minutes, or 24 hours to do it.
2007-02-08 19:40:42 · answer #1 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 10⤊ 2⤋
scythian1950 has the right answer. It takes 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds for the Earth to rotate 360 degrees (one sidereal day) and approximately 24 hours to go from noon to noon (one solar day). If it takes 365 1/4 days to orbit the Sun, then the Earth has to rotate nearly 361 degrees to get back to noon.
About the only thing I have to add is that 24 hours is the MEAN solar day, or the average amount of time it takes the Earth to rotate from local zenith (noon) to local zenith (noon). Because the Earth's orbit is elliptical and the Earth travels faster at perihelion than aphelion, a solar day is longer in the winter than in the summer. Perihelion occurs the first week of January and aphelion the first week of July. (Measuring the amount of time it takes to get from noon to noon isn't the same as measuring the amount of daylight, which depends on the tilt of the Earth's axis, not the time it takes to get from zenith to zenith).
2007-02-09 01:49:18 · answer #2 · answered by Bob G 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Earth spins on its axis much more quickly than Venus and Mercury... This is most likely because the planet was impacted by a mars sized object (often called Theia) about 4.5 billion years ago. Theia impacted the proto-earth at an angle spreading the debris that formed our moon, and spinning the earth on its axis. The earth used to spin much faster just after the impact, but the gravitational pull of our moon has slowed this spinning to about 23.9 hours per rotation.
Venus and Mercury are both without a moon - the absence of a large impact event could explain why they rotate so much slower than the earth.
2007-02-08 19:13:51 · answer #3 · answered by brooks b 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The length of day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.04 seconds. A day gets rounded up to 24 hours because it is easier for people to keep time by have an even number of hours with no extra minutes or seconds. This is why we have a leap year every four years to make up for the lost time.
2007-02-08 23:48:19 · answer #4 · answered by bldudas 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
The earth rotates around itself and that is called a spin. The earth is also rotating around the Sun and that is orbiting. That takes a year, which is 365 days and 1/4 th of a day extra. Hence a leap year is needed once in 4 years.
2007-02-08 18:57:51 · answer #5 · answered by Swamy 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋
its 24 hours
2007-02-08 19:18:37 · answer #6 · answered by allan m 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds
2007-02-08 18:51:34 · answer #7 · answered by Roman Soldier 5 · 5⤊ 2⤋
know a day lasts 23 hours and 56 minutes, its just that we call it 24 hours for convienience. why do you think we have leap years
2007-02-09 02:40:47 · answer #8 · answered by supremecritic 4 · 1⤊ 5⤋
What the heck? Did the Earth change it's cycle again??? Man, I just can't keep up. We've got the moon always screwing me up with its whacked out schedule, and now the Earth is in on the scheme. It's all a conspiracy I tell you! Lies! Lies!
2007-02-08 18:51:44 · answer #9 · answered by David K 2 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Roman soldier is right for rotation about itself.
To rotate around the sun it is 365and 1/4 days
2007-02-08 18:53:27 · answer #10 · answered by J.SWAMY I ఇ జ స్వామి 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋