What happens to the extra 6 hours we have every year? Where does it go?

Question

Since there is 365.25 days in a year, and we make up for the .25 every 4 years (leap year) what do we do with the extra 6 hours we have every year?

Answer 1

There are no 'extra hours'.  Why would you expect the earth to rotate an integral number of times around its axis for each revolution around the sun?  The two are unrelated.  We just like the idea of having the equinoxes and solstices in a fixed place on our calendar, and the sun to be overhead at (solar) noon every day.

Answer 2

They just accumulate as an accumulated error until the error adds up to a full day and can be absorbed into the number of days.  That's why Leap Years occur every four years.

Answer 3

We save those hours up, and when we have 24 of them, we have a leap year and use them to make February 29th. In reality, the typical calendar year is 6 hours short.

Answer 4

I sleep them through...