Why does the sun appear to "rise" and "set".?

Question

If the earth rotates on a horizontal axis then why does the sun appear from below and travel up and then down again throughout the day?

Answer 1

The Earth's axis is not horizontal. It isn't vertical either because there is no up or down in space. And if you actually plot the apparent path of the Sun as it rises, it does not usually go straight up from the horizon. It goes up at an angle that depends on your latitude.

Answer 2

ok I'm going to say something thats off topic yet its on topic

spring and fall equanoxes mean that on those days the sun has equal amount of hours.in the summar and winter solstis each have a differance of 4 to 5 hours from the equal amount on the equanoxes.  

     now what im saying is thats when ur on the ground remember that the world is round and that each day has a sun rise and sun set that are beutiful in may. the world spins and spins and it has tens of millions of people who never feels this spinning. it bobs and weaves on its axis going back and forth with beutiful lights in the north. so ur question is why does the sun appear to rise and set and

ur answer is in this poem with more answers yet. if ur wondering what i mean by this im really saying that this apperance is its spins ok the worls spins this other stuff is off topic the world spins on its axis and it tilts on it to making all the seasons there

Answer 3

The earth doesn't rotate on a horizontal axis. The only planet in the solar system with a horizontal axis is Uranus. Earth rotates on a mostly vertical axis (the axis is slightly tilted, causing the seasons). This rotation causes the sun to appear to move.

Answer 4

The orientation of the earth's axis as "horizontal" is not meaningful.

The earth rotates from west to east so that if you are on a point on the surface (not very close to the north or south pole) as the earth turns toward the east, the sun (which for the purposes of this is considered to be standing still) appears at your eastern horizon.  As your spot on the surface continues to turn toward the east, it goes under and past the sun, which to you appears to move up and back down toward the west.  As your spot continues to move easterly, you can no longer see the sun, which now appears to have gone below your western horizon.

Is that clear enough?

Answer 5

because your standing on the side of the planet. with gravity you think of the ground as down and the sky as up.

Answer 6

The Earth rotates on a vertical axis...

Answer 7

earth rotates on its own axis and also around the sun...so two kinds of rotation

days and nights are due to rotation on its own axis...imagine urself as standing on middle of earth..and imagine as earth is rotationg on its own axis...

second rotation u can observe when there is change of season...winter and summer r caused due to rotation around the sun....

if u still dont get me ..try to get a pic of universe and then try to vizualize what i said...good luck

Answer 8

Because the earth spins on its axis. The sun is actually stationary.  

Answer 9

The axis is horizontal only from one angle you're looking from... To us on Earth, with our feet pointed toward the center of the planet, and you're likely within the arctic and antarctic circles, the sun appears to rise from a horizon and travel over our heads.  If you were to lay down, with your back parallel to the Earth's access, then you'd see the sun rise on your left, shine on you during the day, and set on your right.