[Physics] How many minutes in a year

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I knew that there were $365.25$ days in a year (ish) but we only have $365$ on calendars, that's why we have February 29. I then learned in class about the sidereal and solar day; sidereal being $23$ hours and $56$ minutes, and solar being $24$.

When we say "$365.25$ days" which day are we talking about (sidereal or solar)?

My teacher said that the $4$ minutes we gain from the solar day being longer than the sidereal day caused the $0.25$ (ish) more, which causes February 29. I do not see how being $4$ minutes ahead each day already means that we need to add even more time. Surely the $4$ minutes each day, that adds up to $24.3$ hours extra each year, means that we must remove a day every single year, not add one.

What does being $4$ minutes ahead/behind mean for the year?

Best Answer

There seems to be some confusion. The number of solar days in a year differs from the number of sidereal days in year by 1--that difference of course being due the 1 revolution around the sun per year influencing the solar day.

Back to the number of days in a year: Baring tidal resonances, there is no reason for the length of a day to be commensurate with length of year; it is what is it: 365.2425

I remember this as follows:

365 day in the year

+1/4 A leap year every 4 years

-1/100 Except on years ending in "00"

+1/400 Unless the year is divisible by 400 (e.g. Y2K)


365.2425

so that 2000 was a leap-leap-leap year.

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