If Earth makes one complete rotation on its axis every 23 hours and 56 minutes, how does day and night not being flipped on our clocks after six months? (6monthx30dayx4min/60=12hour)

Question

And why leap year happens once per 4 years only to address this?

In: 1081

Answer 1

Our clocks are based on how long it takes for a spot on the earth to go from facing the sun, to facing to sun again. That’s a bit more than a full rotation because we have moved relative to the sun, so it may take 23:56 to do a full rotation but it takes 24:00 to be facing the sun again from a slightly different spot. The clocks don’t track one full rotation, they track facing the sun to facing the sun.