Article
Article
Day
Article By:
Clemence, Gerald M. Formerly, Yale University Observatory, New Haven, Connecticut.
Pasachoff, Jay M. Hopkins Observatory, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.181500
A unit of time equal to the period of rotation of Earth. Different sorts of day are distinguished, according to how the period of rotation is reckoned with respect to one or another direction in space. A day is normally defined as 86,400 SI (Système International) seconds [86,400 s/d = (60 s/min) × (60 min/h) × (24 h/d)], where SI seconds are measured by atomic processes. See also: Physical measurement
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