Why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west?

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When you wake up you probably notice that the sun is in about the same spot every day. As the day goes on the sun appears to move across the sky, and at the end of the day when it sets it goes down in a different spot!

No matter where you are, the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. “East, west, north, and south” are directions that tell you which way you are facing from anywhere you stand. The Earth is constantly turning around and around on its axis, giving us day when it faces the sun and night when it doesn’t. And because the Earth turns towards the east and the sun stays still, the sun always appears to you, standing on Earth, from that same direction!

By the end of the day, the Earth has turned enough that the sun appears in a different part of the sky, making it set in a different place sky than where it came up!

Bringing it full circle!

If all of this stuff about east, west, sunrise, and sunset is a little bit confusing, try out this experiment to help you to see just what’s going on when the Earth is turning and the sun is rising and setting in the sky.

Find a place in your house where you can stand facing a light with a strong beam. Pretend the light is the sun, and you are the Earth! Feel the light shine down on you -- this is daytime!

Now, turn slowly to your right, as if you are the Earth rotating east. See how the light moves across your body as you turn? This is like how the sun moves across the sky! When your back is facing the light, this is nighttime.

Turn around a second time. Do you see the way the light hits your body in all the same places during the “daytime” and the “nighttime”? This is just like how the sun always rises in the same spot, and sets in the same other spot!!