August 15, 2002
More Questions, This Time From the Nine-Year-Old

"Dad, why do they teach us things in school that are untrue?"

"What do you mean? Can you give me an example?"

"At school they teach us that the earth spins on its axis once every twenty-four hours."

"But... Oh, I see what you mean."

"Well, Dad, why?"

Posted by DeLong at August 15, 2002 04:11 PM | Trackback
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Don't worry, they'll get to sidereal days by age 12 or so.

Posted by: Dan Hartung on August 16, 2002 12:59 AM

This brings back an old memory.

When I was about nine and discussing this issue with my father, he told me that one of the early American space flights (I don't remember whether Mercury or Gemini) landed hundreds of miles off target because someone at NASA used 24 hours as the time it takes the earth to spin once on its axis.

I've never found any verification of this. Has anyone else heard this?

Posted by: Curt on August 16, 2002 09:59 AM
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