Earth and Solar System
Earth and Solar System
AR
The Earth Axis
• The Earth is a rocky planet that rotates in a near circular orbit around
the Sun
• It rotates on its axis, which is a line through the north and south poles
• The axis is tilted at an angle of approximately 23.4° from the vertical.
• The Earth completes one full rotation (revolution) in approximately 24
hours (1day)
• This rotation creates the apparent daily motion of the Sun rising and
setting.
• Rotation of the Earth on its axis is there fore
responsible for the periodic cycle of day and night
Day and Night
• The Earth's rotation around its axis creates day
and night.
• Day is experienced by the half of the Earth's
surface that is facing the Sun Night is the other
half of the Earth's surface, facing away from the
Sun
Rising and Setting of the Sun
• The Earth's rotation on its axis makes the Sun
looks like it moves from east to west.
• At the equinoxes the Sun rises exactly in the east
and sets exactly in the west
• Equinox(meaning 'equal night') is when day and
night are approximately of equal length.
• How ever, the exact locations of where the Sun
rises and sets changes through out the seasons In
the northern hemisphere(above the equator):
• In summer ,the sun rises north of east and sets
north of west
• In winter ,the sun rises south of east and sets
south of west.
• The Sun is highest above the horizon at noon
(12pm)
• In the northern hemisphere, the daylight hours
are longest up until roughly the21st June
• This day is known as the Summer Solstice
and is where the Sun is at its highest point in
the sky all year
• The day light hours then decrease to their
lowest around 21st December
• This is known the Winter Solstice and is where
the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky all year.
B
• The correct answer is D because:
• A year is defined as the amount of time it takes for a planet to complete one orbit of its
star
– In this case the Earth is usually said to orbit the Sun once every 365 days
– Only B or D could be correct
• A day is defined as the amount of time it takes for a planet to complete one full rotation
on its axis
– The Earth rotates once every 24 hours
– D must be correct
• An equinox (meaning ‘equal night’) happens twice a year (21st March and 23rd
September), when the daylight and night-time hours are equal
– Therefore, daylight hours during an equinox are half of 24, or 12 hours
– This confirms that answer D is correct
• In fact the Earth takes 365.25 days to orbit the Sun.
• These extra 6 hours are ‘saved up’ for four years, then added to February in leap years.
This prevents the calendar getting out of synch with the seasons (which otherwise it
would eventually) and creates that extra day in February.