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?
- Agree: both hemispheres get closer, so both get summer
- Disagree: the axis flips toward the Sun each summer
- Agree: closer means hotter, so summer comes then
- 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?
- 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
- Agree: low sunlight packs more energy into each spot
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?
- Disagree: both hemispheres have spring together
- Agree: the axis has flipped south for March
- Agree: the two hemispheres have opposite seasons
- Disagree: New Zealand is nearer the Sun, so it is spring
“Orbit diagram, top view, not to scale:” Suppose Earth's axis had no tilt at all. What would Luz's town in Ohio get all year long?
- Strong seasons from distance alone
- Summer weather, since the Sun stays high
- Days near 12 hours and no strong seasons
- The same seasons, since the axis tips anyway
Suppose Earth's tilt were bigger than its real 23.4°. What would happen to summers and winters in the north, according to Milo's notes?
- Summers and winters would both be more extreme
- Winter light would be stronger, since it is lower
- Nothing would change, since distance sets seasons
- Both hemispheres would share one season
Suppose Earth kept its tilt but its orbit were a perfect circle. Would Noah still have seasons?
- Yes, but both halves would have summer together
- No, since the axis would stop tipping back and forth
- No, since the distance would stay the same
- Yes, because the tilt still changes the sunlight
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?
- Sydney is closer to the Sun in December
- Each has summer when its hemisphere leans sunward
- The cities share seasons, so the table is wrong
- Earth's axis switches direction twice a year
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
- Neither, since both get 12 hours of daylight
- Sydney, because its sunlight is more direct
- Phoenix, because low sunlight is stronger
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?
- Winter, since the North Pole now leans away
- Winter for both halves of the globe
- Summer again, since the tilt did not change
- Summer, since R is closer to the lamp
In Bo's model, the globe's North Pole is turned to face the lamp at every spot. What is wrong with this model?
- Earth's axis keeps pointing the same way all year
- The globe should show one season on both halves
- Nothing; Earth's tilt follows the Sun around
- The globe should move closer to the lamp in summer