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: Earth is closest in January, in northern winter
- Agree: both hemispheres get closer, so both get summer
- Agree: closer means hotter, so summer comes then
- Disagree: the axis flips toward the Sun each summer
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: daylight is 12 hours, so angle cannot matter
- Agree: low sunlight packs more energy into each spot
- Disagree: winter comes because Earth is farther away
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
- Nothing would change, since distance sets seasons
- Winter light would be stronger, since it is lower
- 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
- Yes, because the tilt still changes the sunlight
- No, since the distance would stay the same
- No, since the axis would stop tipping back and forth
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
- The cities share seasons, so the table is wrong
- Earth's axis switches direction twice a year
- Each has summer when its hemisphere leans sunward
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?
- Sydney, because its sunlight is more direct
- Neither, since both get 12 hours of daylight
- Phoenix, because it is closer to the Sun then
- 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 tilt must turn as it moves
- Winter, since the globe is farthest from the lamp
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 for both halves of the globe
- Summer, since R is closer to the lamp
- Winter, since the North Pole now leans away
- Summer again, since the tilt did not change
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
- Earth's axis keeps pointing the same way all year
- The globe should move closer to the lamp in summer
- The globe should show one season on both halves