How does the earth spinning on its axis effect the length of day?

Answer 1

The tilt of earth's axis with respect to the ecliptic plane is the cause of the seasons.

At any given time, the hemisphere adjacent to the pole tilted toward the sun is the one that experiences spring and summer, whereas the one adjacent to the pole tilted away from the sun is the hemisphere experiencing autumn and winter.

Answer 2

If the half side of the Earth is in front of the Sun then there is day time and if the other half side of the Earth is not facing the Sun it is night time.As there is no light in the Planet and the other half is facing the Sun so, The shadow of the lighted area affects the other side! And when the Earth's Axis is Tilted then there is night time in one side and day time in the other side! Thank you!!
From,
Farea!! =D

Answer 3

At higher latitudes (farther from the equator), the longest day becomes longer, and the shortest day shorter. In extreme cases - once you cross the polar circle - the longest day is 24 hours (the Sun doesn't set), and the shortest day is 0 hours (the Sun doesn't rise).

Answer 4

In our solar system almost everything turns and orbits counter-clockwise as seen from above the North Pole. There are a few exceptions, of course; Venus spins (very slowly) backwards, and Uranus' rotation is practically on its side. There is one of Saturn's moons that orbits backwards. But just about everything that turns, turns CCW.

Answer 5

The Earth is, approximately, spherical. The Sun is 93 million miles away. So for all practical purposes, one-half of the Earth is in sunlight, and the other half of the Earth is in darkness. Because the Earth spins, any point on the Earth spends, over the course of a year, 12 hours per day in sunlight and the other 12 hours in shadow.

But the axis of spin isn't perpendicular to our orbital path around the Sun; the axis is "tilted" 23 and a fraction degrees from being perpendicular to the ecliptic. This "tilt" causes the seasons. The Earth's spin makes it act like a planet-sized gyroscope, and the "wobble" of the Earth is quite slow. When the north pole of the Earth's spin axis is inclined slightly toward the Sun, the northern hemisphere has spring and summer, with longer-than-average days, while the Southern Hemisphere has fall and winter, with shorter than average days.

Answer 6

The rotation of the Earth about its axis is demonstrated by the classical foucault-pendulumexperiment. Its revolution in its orbit around the Sun is shown by (1) the annual parallactic-displacementof relatively nearby stars against the background of more distant stars, and (2) the aberrationof light, causing an apparent annual displacement of all stars on the celestial sphere. However, because the Earth is not truly a rigid symmetric body and because it interacts with other members of the solar system gravitationally, these motions vary with time. See also aberration; foucault-pendulum; orbital-motion-1; parallax.

Rotation of the Earth

Until recent times the rotation of the Earth has served as the basis for timekeeping. The assumption was made that the rotational speed of the Earth was essentially constant and repeatable, and that the length of the day which resulted from this constant rotational speed was naturally useful as a measure of the passage of time. Astronomical observations, however, have shown that the speed with which the Earth is rotating is not constant with time. The variations in rotational speed may be classified into three types: secular, irregular, and periodic. The secular variation of the rotational speed refers to the apparently linear increase in the length of the day due chiefly to tidal friction. This effect causes slowing of the Earth's rotational speed and lengthening of the day by about 0.0005 to 0.0035 s per century.

The irregular changes in speed have caused the length of the day to vary by as much as 0.01 s over the past 200 years. Irregular changes consist of so-called decade fluctuations with characteristic periods of 5-10 years as well as variations that occur at shorter time scales. The decade fluctuations are apparently related to processes occurring within the Earth. The higher-frequency variations are now known to be largely related to the changes in the total angular momentum of the atmosphere. See also atmospheric-general-circulation.

Periodic variations are associated with periodically repeatable physical processes affecting the Earth. Tides raised in the solid Earth by the Moon and the Sun produce periodic variations in the length of the day of the order of 0.0005 s with periods of 1 year, year, 27.55 days, and 13.66 days. Seasonal changes in global weather patterns occurring with approximately annual and semiannual periods also cause variations in the length of the day of this order. See also earth-tide.

Revolution about the Sun

The motion of the Earth about the Sun is seen as an apparent annual motion of the Sun along the ecliptic. A large number of astronomical observations of the positions of the Sun and other solar system objects have been made and are being made continuously. This information is required to determine the nature of the motion of the Earth about the Sun. Observations are analyzed using the mathematical methods of celestial mechanics to provide improved estimates of the motions of the solar system objects in the future and to describe the past motions of the objects. The description of the apparent motion of the Sun in the sky provides the determination of the orbit of the Earth. See also celestial-mechanics.

The true period of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun is determined by the time interval between successive returns of the Sun to the direction of the same star. This interval is the sidereal-yearof 365 days 6 h 9 min 9.51 s of mean solar time or 365.25636 mean solar days. The period between successive returns to the moving vernal-equinoxis known as the tropical year of 365 days 5 h 48 min 45.2 s or 365.24219 days. The length of the tropical year is regarded as the length of the year in common usage for calendars. The period of time between successive passages at perihelion(the closest approach of the Earth to the Sun) is called the anomalistic-year-astronomyof 365 days 6 h 13 min 53.26 s or 365.25964 days. The lengths of the years listed above are given for the year 2000. These values vary slowly as a consequence of the long-period perturbations of the Earth's orbit by other planets. See also calendar; perturbation.

The mean distance from the Earth to the Sun, or the semimajor axis of the Earth's orbit, was the original definition of the astronomical unit (AU) of distance in the solar system. Its absolute value fixes the scale of the solar system and the whole universe in terms of terrestrial standards of length. The distance between the Earth and the Sun can be determined by a variety of methods. The most precise method relies on measurement of the travel time of electromagnetic signals reflected from objects in the solar system or received from artificial interplanetary probes. The currently adopted value of the astronomical unit is 1.495978706 × 1011 m (92,955,807 mi). See also astronomical-unit.

The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit can be accurately determined from the variable speed of the Sun's apparent motion along the ecliptic and the laws of ellipticmotion. The adopted value of the eccentricity is 0.0167086171540.

The fact that the Equator of the Earth is inclined in space by about 23.5° to the orbital plane of the Earth (the ecliptic) causes the Northern Hemisphere to be exposed to the more direct rays of the Sun during part of the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The Southern Hemisphere receives the more direct rays 6 months, or a half revolution, later. This effect causes the seasons. See also seasons-1.

Other motions

In addition to the rotation of the Earth and its orbital motion about the Sun, the Earth experiences various small motions about its center of mass. Precession and nutationare examples, and these are caused by the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon on the nonspherical Earth. See alsonutation; precession-of-equinoxes.

Because the axis of symmetry of the Earth is not aligned precisely with the axis of rotation, the Earth also executes a motion about its center of mass known as polar motion. This motion, caused by geophysical and meteorological effects on and within the Earth, is not predictable with accuracy, and must be observed continuously to provide the most precise information on the orientation of the Earth. Polar motion is characterized mainly by an approximately 435-day and a 365-day periodic circular motion of the axis of rotation on the surface of the Earth. The radius of the circular motion is of the order of 16 ft (5 m), but this may vary. See also earth; planet; planetary-physics.

Read more: earth-rotation-and-orbital-motion

Answer 7

The rate of spinning of Earth is getting slow by a very small amount each year. This is due to the tidal influence of moon. The moon is trying to synchronize the rotational period of Earth with it's orbital period. This will continue to happen until the rotational period of Earth i.e. the length of day becomes equal to 27.3 days which is the sidereal orbital period of the moon.

Answer 8

One way to explain it is this: A long time ago, human beings got together and said

"Hey! It's too much trouble to keep saying 'the journey of the sun around the earth'.

We need a shorter way to say it when we're discussing our farming methods. Let's

call it a 'year', OK ? When you hear me say 'a year', you'll know that what I'm really

saying is 'the journey of the sun around the earth'."

So that's how it happened. The concept of the 'year' and its seasons was known to

every living thing on earth, but humans invented a year to refer to it with. The only

recent change has been the scientific discovery that the earth journeys around the sun,

instead of the other way around.

Answer 9

Nothing, if you are talking about clock time, or Universal Time (UTC). It's odd, but we are no longer dependent on the position of the sun for reckoning the time of day, even though it is the sun that originally inspired regular measurement of time throughout a day. Any 24 hour period as measured with a clock is the same as any other anywhere in the world, with the minor exception of times when leap seconds are added (or subracted-- none have ever bee subtracted to date). Our standard is now the reliably unchanging behavior of cesium atoms!

Our time standards were originally set to reconcile the minutely accurate measured length of an earth orbit with the number of days it takes to complete the orbit. With some careful math, we arrive at the length of the average day, and assign that length of time to each day regardless of the sun's position.

The old term 'Greenwich Mean Time' doesn't say mean (or average) for nothing. Solar days (the period of time between two successive transits of the sun) change in length a little throughout the year, and I'm not referring to the seasonal changes in the amount of sunlight per day. This happens because while the earth's spin is very close to constant, the earth's velocity in its orbit around the sun is not. When the earth is moving more slowly in its orbit, solar days are slightly shorter, and when the earth is moving more rapidly, it has to turn a little more in order to arrive at the transit of the sun, so the solar day will be a little longer. There are other complicated changes that happen, although they are very slight. See materials on The Equation of Time for more. For even more mind-blowing material, research something called the analemma (link below)

Answer 10

No. The length of the year is unaffected by the slowing of the rotation of the Earth.

And the change in the rotation of the Earth, which is lengthening the day, is so slow that the day length for us today and for Ugghhh the Caveman in 4 Million BC is entirely trivial. It will take millions more years before the day is much longer than it is now.