Final answer:
A solar day is longer than a sidereal day because Earth has to rotate slightly more than one full rotation relative to the stars to compensate for its orbital motion around the Sun, resulting in about 4 additional minutes for the solar day.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement is true: a solar day is indeed longer than a sidereal day. The solar day is based on the Earth's rotation relative to the Sun and it factors in the extra rotation Earth must make due to its orbit around the Sun. A sidereal day is based on the Earth's rotation relative to distant stars, which takes about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds - nearly 4 minutes shorter than the solar day. Because Earth moves about 1° per day along its orbit, it needs to rotate a little more to bring the Sun back to the same position in the sky as the day before. This extra rotation takes approximately 1/365 of a full turn, contributing about 4 minutes, making the solar day around 24 hours long.