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

Because a full rotation and a rotation required for a full day-night cycle are not equal.

A full rotation is 360 degrees.

Over a span of a year the earth does a rotation around the sun. Try to imagine that you are standing face to face to a person. If you move behind their back, you need a 180 degree rotation to face them again. If you keep spinning around them you need another 180 degrees when you are at your starting location

This adds a 360 degree rotation compared to the sun. That is about one degree per day. So to achieve a full day-night cicle, you need 361 degrees of rotation.