Earth and Space Science - 5th Grade Science

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Question

An Earth day is 24 hours because the Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours.

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Answer

The Victoria State Education and Training department explains why this is true, "The Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits the Earth. The Earth is essentially a sphere, and the sun is a nearby star, which is an unimaginably large ball of gas that radiates light and heat as products of nuclear reactions. The Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days and rotates about its axis once every 24 hours. Day and night are due to the Earth rotating on its axis, not its orbit around the sun. The term 'one day' is determined by the time the Earth takes to rotate once on its axis and includes both day time and night time."

The Earth rotating on its axis is the cause for day and night. When it is daytime for half of Earth, it is nighttime for the other half.

Source: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/science/continuum/Pages/daynight.aspx

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