Why does everybody say....

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

What?cpo335

What?

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

br0kenrabbit

In the sense you could be more specific and declare your statement as false and note the fractions of a minute, but that would be just as silly.

[QUOTE="cpo335"]What?br0kenrabbit

What?

wut?

In the sense you could be more specific and declare your statement as false note fractions of a minute, but that would be just as silly.duxup

[QUOTE="duxup"]In the sense you could be more specific and declare your statement as false note fractions of a minute, but that would be just as silly.KittenNipples

The image on the left is the sun and the Earth at the Winter Solstice. The image on the right is the sun and the Earth at the Summer Solstice, exactly 6 months later.

On the image on the left, the stick sticking up from the Earth represents MIDNIGHT. Now, a full rotation is 360 degress, so if one day is a full rotation, no matter how many days you pass through, each day will begin with MIDNIGHT pointing in the same direction...since a full rotation is 360 degrees.

Add 6 months of days (with a full 360 degree rotation for Each day) and you'll see that during the summer solstice, midnight would take place at NOON.

[QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]

[QUOTE="cpo335"]What?CrystalFox

What?

wut?

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

br0kenrabbit

[QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

Franko_3

No, it doesn't. There's 366 sidereal days during a normal non-leap year. Where does the extra day ago?

Imagine yourself on the surface of the Earth if the Earth isn't rotating. The Earth isn't spinning on it's axis, but it's still going around the sun. Even without the Earth spinning, you'd still experience ONE DAY per YEAR...as the Earth went around the sun.

The image on the left is the sun and the Earth at the Winter Solstice. The image on the right is the sun and the Earth at the Summer Solstice, exactly 6 months later.

br0kenrabbit

You're wrong, that's not the sun.

it takes 24 hrz for earth to rotate once

it takes 24 hrz for earth to rotate once

VaguelyTagged

It takes 23 hours 56 minutes to rotate once. Because we are going around the sun, it takes an extra 4 minutes each day to 'catch up' with the sun. 23 hours 56 minutes + 4 minutes = 24 hours.

[QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

Franko_3

[QUOTE="Franko_3"][QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

viva_hate

That has nothing to do with this.

...it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once? This is false, it only takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

Of course, if you want to confuse these same people, ask them where the 'extra' day goes...because if the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, then 12am midnight on the Winter Solstice would be 12am NOON on the summer solstice...you'd have the AM hours during AFTERNOON.

br0kenrabbit

23hrs 56 mins and4 secs, it is called the Sidereal daythat it takes for the Earth to complete one rotation relative to the vernal equinox but in that time the earth has moved around the sun 1/365th and so time is very close to 24hours called solar time.

The earth and time are never exact though and leap seconds are added or subtracted to keep the time in check.

Here is the leap seconds that have been added subtracted to keep proper time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second