If the Earth went around the Sun 3 times faster than it does now, what would be the length of the solar day?

Question

I have had a question like this on my astronomy homework before, and once time I said the day would stay the same and got it wrong. I also put down "12 hours" for how long the day would be if the Earth went around the Sun 2 times faster than it does now...

Any ideas?

I have had a question like this on my astronomy homework before, and once time I said the day would stay the same and got it wrong. I also put down "12 hours" for how long the day would be if the Earth went around the Sun 2 times faster than it does now, and I got marked wrong...

Any ideas?

Answer 1

injanier is correct. More specifically, the mean solar day would increase in length by 7 minutes, 55.6 seconds. Here is how I calculated it.

The sun turns 366.25 times approximately on it's axis in one full orbit of the sun. If the Earth revolved around the sun 3 times faster than it did now, it would only revolve 366.25/3 = 122.083 times in one full orbit. Because of the orbit, the number of solar days in one orbit is less than the number of rotations by 1, so there would be 121.083 solar days in one orbit. The Earth spins on it's axis once in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (approximately). So that's 23.934 hours per rotation, so a complete orbit would take 23.934 * 122.083 = 2921.9968 hours. There are 121.083 solar days in this period so each solar day would last (on average) 2921.9968 / 121.083 = 24.1322 hours, or 24 hours, 7 minutes, 56 seconds approximately.

EDIT: Just to add to make sure people understand, the amount of time it takes for Earth to orbit the sun *does* impact the length of the day because of the math I've shown above.

People don't think so because they think the rotation of the Earth is the only thing that affects the length of the day, but this is not true. A day can be defined as the length of time between when the sun is at the same azimuth in the sky. After rotating 360 degrees, the Earth will have moved slightly in it's orbit of the Sun. Because of this, the position of the Sun relative to the Earth will have changed. Therefore, the Earth must rotate *more* than 360 degrees for the Sun to appear at the same azimuth of the sky. The faster the Earth moves around the sun, the further it has to rotate per day, and the longer the day that we measure will be. There are 365.25 days in a year, but the Earth rotates 366.25 times in a year. For more information on this, refer to my source link below.

Answer 2

I'm wading in on the keep it simple side.
If the earth went around the sun three times faster the length of an earth day will not change, but an earth year would be three times shorter, ie 4 months or thereabouts (365.25 / 3 earth days actually).
If you increase the speed that the earth spins on its own axis the earth days will get shorter.

Spinning the earth around the sun, presumably at any speed, doesn't impact the amount of rotation of the sun itself (unless you are able to make the necesary calculations for the effects of gravity between the earth and the sun).

So if a Solar day is how long is takes the sun to rotate on its own axis I would also argue that changing the speed of the earth wont impact the sun. (if you're in high school.... - if you're at university you might have some tricky gravity calculations to make!)

Answer 3

a million) Lunar month is 329 days? would not sound very precise to me. 2) Which satellites have been destroyed? checklist them. 3) i assumed the LHC grow to be being switched in this 12 months. Ah. i'm getting it, they have desperate to make it yet another 2012 upload-on. 4) there have been a lot of interpretations of the Christian Bible for the date of Armageddon. they have all been incorrect. Why could this one be any distinctive? 5) Which geologists have set 2012 because of fact the date for the Yellowstone Volcano to blow? supply some references to their examine and comments. 6) If physicists at Berkeley college can are waiting for random activities with ninety 9 p.c. accuracy, they ought to recover from to Las Vegas and make some money. 7) A magnetic pole shift ought to nicely be on its way in spite of the undeniable fact that it won't ensue till now or throughout 2012.

Answer 4

A little less than 8 minutes longer than it is now. Whatever the length of the year, it has one more sidereal day than solar days. So you take one sidereal day and divide it by the number of solar days in the year to get the difference between a sidereal day and a solar day. So if the year were 1/3 as long, the difference will be 3x what it is now, or the solar day will be longer than it is now by 2x the current difference.

Answer 5

The solar day is the time that is use by the sun to turn around his own axis, that it wont be affected if the earth turns 3 times faster around the sun, that its called earth year.

Answer 6

It would be the same, with the centrifugal acceleration it would push the earth out proportionately and have the same day, unless you are in Advanced advanced physics, our orbit would be messed up alot, either we would fly out of this universe, or we will have a way different and very oblong oval orbit.