Question

What is the (approximate) fractional difference in time between the sidereal day and the solar day? (Is it one tenth? One hundredth? One thousandth? Something else?) Hint: convert all numbers into seconds, with one hour equal to 60 minutes and one minute equal to 60 seconds. Show your work.

Answer 1

0.9972

Step-by-step explanation:

The sidereal day has a duration of 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds approximately. The solar day has a duration of 24 hours. We have to convert the previous times to seconds:

Solar day:

`24h*(60min)/(1h)*(60s)/(1min)=86400\\`

Sidereal day:

`23h*(60min)/(1h)+56min=1436min\\1436min*(60s)/(1min)+4s=86164s`

Now, we calculate the fractional difference:

`(86164s)/(86400s)=0.9972`