Does it really take 24 hours for earth to rotate on its axis?

Answer 1

No, it does not take exactly 24 hours for Earth to rotate on its axis. Earth actually takes approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to complete one full rotation, which is known as a sidereal day. However, due to the Earth's orbit around the Sun, a solar day, which is based on the position of the Sun in the sky, is about 24 hours long. This slight difference is why we have leap years to account for the extra time.

Answer 2

No. It takes 24 hours to bring the observed position of the sun (on average throughout the year) to the same place in the sky. Because the earth is going around the sun, each six months the sun is south at midday but pointing in an exactly opposite direction to the stars as it was 6 mths before. The rotation period is about 4 mins less than 24 hours.

Answer 3

Sometimes the words 'revolution' and 'rotation' are used in different ways; 'revolution' might sometimes be used to refer to the spin of the earth on its axis. It is probably clearer to have a standard understanding of the words to avoid confusion. Rotation refers to the day-night producing spin of the planet on its axis, and revolution normally refers to the orbital movement of the planet around the sun. The earth does complete one full [sidereal] rotation in just a little under 24 hours. The time is close to 23 hours 56 minutes 4.1 seconds.

Answer 4

No. In 24(ish) hours, the Earth rotates once on its own axis. It takes roughly 365.25 days (a year) to go once round the sun. Like the difference between spinning on the spot and running a lap round a stadium.

Answer 5

24 hours is about one rotation of the earth on its axis.

365.25 days is about one revoluton of the earth around the sun.

36 hours is nothing of importance that i know of.

it takes the moon about 27.3 days to orbit the earth that's the closet thing i can think of.

Mercury takes about 36 hours to turn on its axis; I'm not sure if that is mercury hours or earth hours though, since every plant has its own unique size. So our hours are unique to earth.

Answer 6

True. The Earth spins exactly once in 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds. The difference between this period, known as a "sidereal day", and the "mean solar day" of 24 hours is that the Earth is moving around the Sun as it spins - and it has to spin for an additional four minutes to get pointed back at the Sun.

Answer 7

It doesn't. It takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once on its axis. It takes the Earth 365.24 days to complete one orbit of the Sun.

These are observed facts; there isn't any "why" to it.

Answer 8

Yes, the Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours, causing day and night. This rotation speed is constant and is what gives us our 24-hour day cycle.

Answer 9

It doesn't. 24 hours is the average time. Because of this we define a day as having exactly 24 hours.

Answer 10

The earth is rotating all the time, and takes roughly 24 hours for one complete rotation.