Why do we have "weeks"?

[Big Limpin']

The time for the earth to spin once is called a "day"
The time for a moon phase is called a "month" (originally)
The time for earths axis to cycle is called a "year".
So where do weeks come from?

The only thing i can think is the bible (on the 7th day...). That i hate religion has nothing to do with this though. It just strikes me as odd that we chose to make 7 days as some kind of cycle. Works weeks, etc.

Far in the future (more than decades), how possible is it that "weeks" will cease to exist?

Wiki says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week

Afaik,

It is the integer approximation of a quarter of a lunar month.

[BruceZ]

[ QUOTE ]
The time for the earth to spin once is called a "day"
The time for a moon phase is called a "month" (originally)
The time for earths axis to cycle is called a "year".
So where do weeks come from?

The only thing i can think is the bible (on the 7th day...). That i hate religion has nothing to do with this though. It just strikes me as odd that we chose to make 7 days as some kind of cycle. Works weeks, etc.

Far in the future (more than decades), how possible is it that "weeks" will cease to exist?

[/ QUOTE ]

Astronomically, 4 weeks is roughly the duration of the 4 phases of the moon (1st quarter, full, last quarter, new (no) moon).

The names of the days correspond to the sun, the moon, and 5 of the planets, as can be seen if you know the names of the days in Spanish as well as English:

Sunday: Sun day
Monday: (Spanish Lunes) Moon day
Tuesday: (Spanish Martes) Mars
Wednesday: (Spanish Miercoles) Mercury
Thursday: (Spanish Jueves) Jupiter
Friday: (Spanish Viernes) Venus
Saturday: Saturn

it is due to the Simpsons only being able to be show at no more than 7 times during a week on most channels, and it can cause some hystericalinity.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The time for the earth to spin once is called a "day"
The time for a moon phase is called a "month" (originally)
The time for earths axis to cycle is called a "year".
So where do weeks come from?

The only thing i can think is the bible (on the 7th day...). That i hate religion has nothing to do with this though. It just strikes me as odd that we chose to make 7 days as some kind of cycle. Works weeks, etc.

Far in the future (more than decades), how possible is it that "weeks" will cease to exist?

[/ QUOTE ]

Astronomically, 4 weeks is roughly the duration of the 4 phases of the moon (1st quarter, full, last quarter, new (no) moon).

The names of the days correspond to the sun, the moon, and 5 of the planets, as can be seen if you know the names of the days in Spanish as well as English:

Sunday: Sun day
Monday: (Spanish Lunes) Moon day
Tuesday: (Spanish Martes) Mars
Wednesday: (Spanish Miercoles) Mercury
Thursday: (Spanish Jueves) Jupiter
Friday: (Spanish Viernes) Venus
Saturday: Saturn

[/ QUOTE ]

The English names come from Anglo-Saxon gods. In old English,

Sunday - Sunne's day. (Sunne = Sunna being the goddess of the sun.)
Monday - Moon day.
Tuesday - Tiw's day. (Tiw = Tyr being the god of war.)
Wednesday - Woden's day. (Woden = Odin being the god of dead.)
Thursday - Thunor's day. (Thunor = Thor being the god of thunder.)
Friday - Frige's day. (Frige = Freya being the god of love.)
Saturday - Saturn's day.

(The = refer to equivalent Norse gods).