DELTA 4 ROCKET READY TO LAUNCH NEW ERA FOR GPS

On May 26, 9:32*am, oriel36 wrote:
what the natural noon
cycles dictate is that daily rotation cannot be isolated as an
independent motion so equalizing the 24 hour cycles is the closest you
come to determining constant daily rotation.

This is why we use the 23 hour, 56 minute, and 4 second cycle instead,
because the rotation in this cycle CAN be isolated as an independent
motion, while 24 hour rotation, exactly as you say here, CANNOT.

And we insist on isolating the Earth's rotation. Although you think
that's a bad thing, leaving us with the Earth in a celestial sphere
with no cause or effect or whatever, it is not as disastrous as you
claim, because we *don't* take this as denying that the Earth also
orbits the Sun. We take that orbit, and the specific characteristics
of that orbit - which, in themselves are understandable - and add the
Earth's rotation to that orbit to find the apparent place of the Sun.

Having motions that can be isolated makes the arithmetic easier, and
so we prefer to consider motions in that way, if it is possible to do
so accurately. And, in this case, it is.

But only by using the 23 hour, 56 minute, and 4 second cycle for the
Earth's rotation.

Attempting to use 24 hours instead causes us to *lose* the ability to
isolate the Earth's rotation. There is no reason to pay this price,
and so we reject this course of action which you advocate.

John Savard