Why do we have leap years?

Answer 1

A full revolution around the sun is approximately 365.25 days...not an even 365. So every 4 years, we add a full day to the calender (.25 x4) to make up for it.

Answer 2

If we didn't have them, we would be six hours behind every year. It takes the Earth 365.242199 days to rotate every year. We have a leap year every 4 yrs but not on years divisble by 100. Feburary 2004 was considered bissextile, which means we got an extra day that year. The Gregorian calendar is still about 27 seconds off - in 3,200 years we will be a whole day off, leap years and all. Hope this helps...

Answer 3

A year is the time it takes for the Earth to revolve around the sun once. The time it takes to do this is 365.25 day(approximately). It might not sound like much, but leap years are put in the calendar in order to make up for this .25 of a day each year. Every four years, a day is added to the year.

Answer 4

Because a year is about 365 1/4 days, so the leap year is to accomodate the 4 quarter days (aka 1 day)

Answer 5

Well, think about where you were at midnight on new year's eve in 2005. Not whose house you were at, but where your planet was, in its orbit.

Now jump ahead to the next year, to midnight, new year's eve, 2006. The earth is SUPPOSED to be in exactly the same spot as last year...but it's not, it's a little behind (about 400,000 miles behind, in fact). It won't get to the exact spot as last year's new year's eve location, until about 6 AM the next morning. But nobody likes to have new year's eve parties at 6 AM, so by convention we say that the new year started at midnight, even though the earth really had another 400,000 miles to go.

Now jump ahead again, exactly 365 days, and the same thing happens. At midnight new year's eve, 2007, the earth is another 400,000 miles behind (800,000 compared to 2005).

So every 365 days, the earth makes "not quite" a complete orbit. If we never made any adjustments, then after a few centuries we'd be so far off that New Year's Eve wouldn't be anywhere near the same spot in the orbit where it is today. January would be in the middle of summer, and nobody wants that.

So to bring things back to normal, every few years we add a day. That gives the earth an extra 24 hours to make the trip back to the right "spot" just in time for New Year's Eve. :-)

Answer 6

Our year is 365 days. Actually it takes the Earth 365 and 1/4 days to go around the Sun (one year). The leap year takes care of the fraction.

Answer 7

We currently function under the Gregorian calendar, before that it was the ceasar calendar, neither one of them are correct because the people who designed them didnt understand fractions or decimal equivalents, the Mayans had the most accurate calendar. Refer to Mayan prophecy 2012. The reason why we have leap years is because there are actually 366 degrees in a solar circle, our current metrology equivalent to the solar circle is 360 degrees, so when you do the math you discover that dividing these two numbers by 9 reveals a missing power factor of .666. just enough to throw off the accuracy of our current calendar and create a reason to have to correct our calendar with leap years. James Mark Platt

Answer 8

Each year is exactly 364.25 days. We have a leap year every 4 years becuse time is more easily kept with 364 days in a year. We add on that extra one to make up for the 4 quarter days we haven't been marking.

Answer 9

Because the regular year is 364 days and 6 hours. Ever four years, those extra 6 hours that have added up equal 24 hours. That means we have an extra day, every four years. We could put it anywhere, theoretically, but February is the logical choice, rather than having a month with 32 days. Also, It is easier to remember, because Feb. is the odd month out.

Answer 10

One day is actually 23 hours 56 minutes. Not the 24 hours that is commonly used. Also, one revolution around the sun (year) is actually 365.23 days.

Because of this, every four years, one day is added to the year in order to make up for that quarter of a year (approximately).

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