Day and night, the year, and why we have seasons
Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Early January about 147 million km; early July about 152 million km. Esme's friend says summer happens because Earth gets closer to the Sun. Which response is best?
- Disagree: the axis flips toward the Sun each summer
- Agree: closer means hotter, so summer comes then
- Agree: both hemispheres get closer, so both get summer
- Disagree: Earth is closest in January, in northern winter
A video claims low winter sunlight is stronger because it arrives at a slant. Jun checks the claim. Which response is best?
- Agree: low sunlight packs more energy into each spot
- Disagree: slanted light spreads, so each spot gets less
- Disagree: winter comes because Earth is farther away
- Disagree: daylight is 12 hours, so angle cannot matter
World map with Texas and New Zealand marked, and the equator drawn as a dashed line. Kira's pen pal in New Zealand says it is fall there in late March. Kira lives in Texas, where it is spring. Which response is best?
- Agree: the two hemispheres have opposite seasons
- Disagree: New Zealand is nearer the Sun, so it is spring
- Disagree: both hemispheres have spring together
- Agree: the axis has flipped south for March
Suppose Earth kept its tilt but its orbit were a perfect circle. Would Noah still have seasons?
- No, since the axis would stop tipping back and forth
- Yes, because the tilt still changes the sunlight
- No, since the distance would stay the same
- Yes, but both halves would have summer together
Read this first
Use the table
City June and December hours of daylight Phoenix Arizona (33°N) June about 14 December about 10 Sydney Australia (34°S) June about 10 December about 14 Pia compares daylight in Phoenix and Sydney. Why are their longest days about six months apart?
- Earth's axis switches direction twice a year
- Each has summer when its hemisphere leans sunward
- The cities share seasons, so the table is wrong
- Sydney is closer to the Sun in December
Sydney, Australia (34°S) about 10; Quito, Ecuador (0°) about 12; Phoenix, Arizona (33°N) about 14; Anchorage, Alaska (61°N) about 19. Ren sorts a table of June daylight in four cities, from the equator to Alaska. What pattern do the numbers show?
- Cities nearer the Sun get longer days
- The farther north a city is, the longer its June days
- The four cities share the same summer season
- Days are 12 hours, so these numbers are rounded
Use the table
City and Noon Sun height noon Sun height above the horizon on December 21 Sydney Australia about 80° Phoenix Arizona about 33° On December 21, Tala compares noon Sun heights. Which city gets more energy on each patch of ground, and why?
- Phoenix, because it is closer to the Sun then
- Sydney, because its sunlight is more direct
- Neither, since both get 12 hours of daylight
- Phoenix, because low sunlight is stronger
Zee carries a tilted globe around a lamp. At spot P, the globe's North Pole leans toward the lamp. Which season is the model showing for the north?
- Summer, since the north gets direct light
- Summer for both halves of the globe
- Winter, since the globe is farthest from the lamp
- Winter, since the tilt must turn as it moves
Classroom model, top view
a lamp in the middle of a table; a tilted globe at four spots P, Q, R and S around it; the North Pole leans toward the window side of the room at every spot. The globe is at R, across the lamp from P.
In the lamp model, Ari keeps the tilt pointing the same way while walking the globe to spot R, across from P. What season does the north have there?
- Summer, since R is closer to the lamp
- Summer again, since the tilt did not change
- Winter, since the North Pole now leans away
- Winter for both halves of the globe
In Bo's model, the globe's North Pole is turned to face the lamp at every spot. What is wrong with this model?
- Nothing; Earth's tilt follows the Sun around
- The globe should move closer to the lamp in summer
- Earth's axis keeps pointing the same way all year
- The globe should show one season on both halves