Day and night, the year, and why we have seasons
Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
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: winter comes because Earth is farther away
- Disagree: slanted light spreads, so each spot gets less
- 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?
- 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?
- The same seasons, since the axis tips anyway
- Summer weather, since the Sun stays high
- Strong seasons from distance alone
- Days near 12 hours and no strong seasons
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?
- Winter light would be stronger, since it is lower
- Summers and winters would both be more extreme
- Both hemispheres would share one season
- Nothing would change, since distance sets seasons
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
- Yes, because the tilt still changes the sunlight
- No, since the distance would stay the same
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
- Sydney is closer to the Sun in December
- The cities share seasons, so the table is wrong
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
- Days are 12 hours, so these numbers are rounded
- The farther north a city is, the longer its June days
- The four cities share the same summer season
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 low sunlight is stronger
- Phoenix, because it is closer to the Sun then
- Neither, since both get 12 hours of daylight
- Sydney, because its sunlight is more direct
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
- Summer again, since the tilt did not change
- Winter for both halves of the globe
- 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?
- The globe should move closer to the lamp in summer
- Earth's axis keeps pointing the same way all year
- Nothing; Earth's tilt follows the Sun around
- The globe should show one season on both halves
