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Day, Night & Seasons Worksheet

Class 6 & 7 Science · about 35 minutes · open the simulation at jugnix.com/simulations/day-night-seasons

NameClassDate

By the end you will: explain day and night, and show how Earth's tilt causes the seasons and changes the length of the day.

A. Explore with the simulation

  1. Pick Delhi. Use “Jump to” for each date and fill in the table.

    DateDaylightNoon Sun height
    20 Mar
    21 Jun
    23 Sep
    22 Dec

  2. On 21 Jun, compare the daylight in Srinagar, Chennai, Sydney and Tromsø. What pattern do you see?

  3. Set Earth's tilt to 0°. Move through the year. What happens to Delhi's daylight and the seasons?

  4. Look at the Distance to Sun readout in June and in December. Is Earth closer to the Sun in summer?

B. Work it out

  1. Earth turns 360° in 24 hours. How many degrees does it turn in 1 hour? In 4 minutes?

  2. The noon Sun's height = 90° − (your latitude − the latitude where the Sun is overhead). Find it for Chennai (13°N) on 21 June, when the Sun is overhead at 23.4°N.

  3. Why does a city at the equator get about 12 hours of daylight all year?

C. Think it through

  1. Write two differences between rotation and revolution of the Earth.

Answer key (for teachers and parents)

  1. 20 Mar: 12.0 h, 61° · 21 Jun: about 13 h 50 min, 85° · 23 Sep: 12.0 h, 61° · 22 Dec: about 10 h 10 min, 38°. Longest day and highest Sun in June: summer.
  2. Srinagar about 14.3 h, Chennai about 12.8 h, Sydney about 9.7 h (its winter), Tromsø 24 h (midnight Sun). Farther north, the June day is longer; south of the equator it's shorter.
  3. Daylight stays 12 hours all year, and the noon Sun stays at the same height: no seasons.
  4. No. Earth is farther in June (about 152 million km) than in December (about 147 million km). Seasons come from the tilt, not the distance.
  5. 15° in an hour, so 1° every 4 minutes.
  6. 90° − |13 − 23.4| = 90° − 10.4° ≈ 80°.
  7. The equator is always cut in half by the line between day and night, whichever way the axis tilts.
  8. Rotation: spinning on its axis, once in about 24 hours, causes day and night. Revolution: going round the Sun, once in about 365¼ days, with the tilt causes the seasons.

Free to print and share for teaching. Made with the interactive simulation at jugnix.com/simulations/day-night-seasons.