Day
The word day has a number of meanings, depending on the context it is used such as of astronomy, physics, and various calendar systems.
As a term in physics and astronomy it is approximately the period during which the Earth completes one rotation around its axis,[1] which takes about 24 hours.[2] A solar day is the length of time which elapses between the Sun reaching its highest point in the sky two consecutive times.[3] Days on other planets are defined similarly and vary in length due to differing rotation periods, that of Mars being slightly longer and sometimes called a sol.
The unit of measurement "day" (symbol d) is defined as 86,400 SI seconds. The second is designated the SI base unit of time. Previously, it was defined in terms of the orbital motion of the Earth in the year 1900, but since 1967 the second and so the day are defined by atomic electron transition.[4] A civil day is usually 24 hours, plus or minus a possible leap second in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and occasionally plus or minus an hour in those locations that change from or to daylight saving time. Day can be defined as each of the twenty-four-hour periods, reckoned from one midnight to the next, into which a week, month, or year is divided, and corresponding to a rotation of the earth on its axis.[5] However, its use depends on its context; for example, when people say 'day and night', 'day' will have a different meaning: the interval of light between two successive nights, the time between sunrise and sunset;[6] the time of light between one night and the next.[7] For clarity when meaning 'day' in that sense, the word "daytime" may be used instead,[8][9] though context and phrasing often makes the meaning clear. The word day may also refer to a day of the week or to a calendar date, as in answer to the question, "On which day?"
The biologically determined living patterns (circadian rhythms) of humans and many other species relate to Earth's solar day and the day-night cycle.
Several definitions of this universal human concept are used according to context, need and convenience. Besides the day of 24 hours (86,400 seconds), the word day is used for several different spans of time based on the rotation of the Earth around its axis. An important one is the solar day, defined as the time it takes for the Sun to return to its culmination point (its highest point in the sky). Because celestial orbits are not perfectly circular, and thus objects travel at different speeds at various positions in their orbit, a solar day is not the same length of time throughout the orbital year. Because the Earth moves along an eccentric orbit around the Sun while the Earth spins on an inclined axis, this period can be up to 7.9 seconds more than (or less than) 24 hours. In recent decades, the average length of a solar day on Earth has been about 86,400.002 seconds[10](24.000 000 6 hours) and there are currently about 365.2421875 solar days in one mean tropical year.
Ancient custom has a new day start at either the rising or setting of the Sun on the local horizon (Italian reckoning, for example, being 24 hours from sunset, oldstyle).[11] The exact moment of, and the interval between, two sunrises or sunsets depends on the geographical position (longitude as well as latitude), and the time of year (as indicated by ancient hemispherical sundials).
