Earth's Rotation & Solar Motion
This simulation demonstrates Earth's rotation and shows how long it takes for the Sun to appear to shift by 1° in Earth's sky.
0.1x
1x
5x
Top
45°
Side
Calculations
Time for 1° Sun shift:
4 minutes
Current rotation:
0°
Physics Explanation: Earth completes a 360° rotation in 24 hours. Therefore, each degree of rotation takes 24h/360° = 4 minutes. This is why the Sun appears to move 1° across the sky every 4 minutes.
Note: This is the apparent motion due to Earth's rotation. The Sun's actual motion relative to Earth is much slower (about 1° per day).
