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The earth rotates on its axis and takes 24 hours to complete one revolution. How much time does the sun take, viewed from the earth, to shift by 1°?

Asked in GUJCET 2020 · Snell's law, slabs and apparent depth

Answer: (3) 4 min.

Step-by-step solution

Given: one full turn of 360° takes 24 hours.

Idea: the sun's apparent march across the sky is just the earth's rotation seen from the ground, so angle and time are in direct proportion.

Rate =(360°)/(24 h)=15° per hour.

Time for 1°=(60 min)/(15)=4 min.

This is the arithmetic behind the roughly two-minute early sunrise and late sunset caused by atmospheric refraction: the bending lifts the sun by about half a degree, and half a degree is worth about two minutes.

Why the other options are wrong

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