Day facts for kids
A day is how long it takes for our Earth to spin around one full time. Imagine the Earth is like a spinning top! When your part of the Earth is facing the Sun, it's daytime. When it spins away from the Sun, it becomes night time. It takes about 24 hours for the Earth to complete one full spin. That's why a day, including both day and night, lasts 24 hours! This way of measuring time, based on the Sun, is called mean solar time. There's also another way to measure a day, called sidereal time, which is based on distant stars. A sidereal day is actually a few minutes shorter!
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What Makes a Day?
Earth's Spin
Our planet, Earth, is always spinning, like a basketball on a finger. This spin is called rotation. One full rotation of the Earth on its axis is what we call a day. The Earth's axis is an imaginary line that goes through the North Pole and the South Pole.
Day and Night
As the Earth spins, different parts of it face the Sun. The side of the Earth that is facing the Sun gets sunlight, and that's when it's daytime for us. The side that is facing away from the Sun is in shadow, and that's when it's nighttime. This constant spinning is why we have a regular cycle of day and night.
How Long is a Day?
Most people think of a day as exactly 24 hours. This is the average time it takes for the Sun to appear in the same spot in the sky each day. Scientists call this a mean solar day. However, the Earth actually spins a little faster than that when measured against distant stars. This is called a sidereal day, and it's about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds long. The difference is because the Earth is also moving around the Sun at the same time it's spinning!
Special Days
Leap Year Day
Most years, the month of February has 28 days. But every four years, we have a special year called a leap year. In a leap year, February gets an extra day, making it 29 days long! This extra day, February 29th, helps our calendar stay in sync with the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Without leap years, our calendar would slowly get out of alignment with the seasons.
| Days of the Week |
|---|
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
Images for kids
See also
In Spanish: Día para niños
