The earth moves slowly around the sun and also rotates on its axis like a basketball spinning on your finger. It takes just under 24 hours to turn around completely once (that’s why we have an extra day every 4 years) This means that for 12 hours, half of the earth will be facing away from the sun and wont get any light from it.
Mrsmoustachio, I want to congratulate you for this question. It may look simple in appearance but it is actually a very famous cosmological problem.
The answer is (in reality) not as short as “the earth revolving on its axis in its orbit round the sound, therefore when the earth facing away from sun the sunlight cannot reach a part of the world which looks dark”.
However, your question actually forms the basis Olbers’ paradox, which is also known as “dark night sky paradox”. It suggest that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. If the universe is static and populated by an infinite number of stars, any sight line from Earth must end at the surface of a star, so the night sky should be completely bright. This contradicts the observed darkness of the night.
Very good question!
The earth moves slowly around the sun and also rotates on its axis like a basketball spinning on your finger. It takes just under 24 hours to turn around completely once (that’s why we have an extra day every 4 years) This means that for 12 hours, half of the earth will be facing away from the sun and wont get any light from it.
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Mrsmoustachio, I want to congratulate you for this question. It may look simple in appearance but it is actually a very famous cosmological problem.
The answer is (in reality) not as short as “the earth revolving on its axis in its orbit round the sound, therefore when the earth facing away from sun the sunlight cannot reach a part of the world which looks dark”.
However, your question actually forms the basis Olbers’ paradox, which is also known as “dark night sky paradox”. It suggest that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. If the universe is static and populated by an infinite number of stars, any sight line from Earth must end at the surface of a star, so the night sky should be completely bright. This contradicts the observed darkness of the night.
Very good question!
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