Day and Night

Day and night is caused by the earth rotating. The earth is said to spin on its axis (an imaginary line that passes through the North Pole and South Pole). We do not feel the earth move because it moves around smoothly at a constant speed which makes it feel stationary. It takes a total of 24 hours for the earth to complete a total turn or what we call a “solar day”. This turn is what causes day and night. During this turn one half of the earth is faced towards the sun and receives light this is known as day, whilst the other half is turned away and receives no light which we term night.

If the earth never spun on its axis as it orbits the sun, one half of the earth would have constant day and the other half which faces away from the sun would have constant night with the moon its only source of light.