Question: How will change the number of days of the year, if we change the direction of rotation of the Earth around its axis or around the Sun?

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  1. Hi alexia68!

    This is a really good question. And a complicated one. Because if you change one of the things you mentioned just a little bit, a lot can happen.
    So, speaking of the number of days of the year, you would have to move the Earth closer to the sun (to have less days) or further away (for more days). The role of the direction is not so important here. The rotation of the Earth around it’s own axis would determine the length of one day, in contrast.

    All the best,
    Andi

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  2. Hi Alexia,

    I’d like to add something to the answer by Andi. It is true that the direction of rotation would not change too much, however the direction of the axis of the earth relative to the direction of rotation of the earth around the sun, does influence a lot! Right now there is an angle of 23.5 degrees between the axis of the earth and the axis of the plane in which the earth goes around the sun. Take a look at this image for example: http://www.weather.gov/images/cle/Education/EarthOrbit.png
    This angle causes the seasons on earth. If this angle becomes bigger our seasons would be more extreme (so hotter summers and colder winters). try to imagine what the earth would do if the angle changed to 45 degrees…of even to 90! would be pretty weird right? luckily that is not going to happen.

    The other thing i wanted to add is, that it is true that you get less days in a year if you move the earth closer to the sun, but that’s not only because it has to travel less distance but especially because it will start to move faster around the sun, so it works both ways 🙂

    if anything is still unclear, please let us know!

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