Light Show System
| Powered by phpBay Pro |
Why do models of the solar system show the Earth only half lit up during the Summer Solstice?
If the Earth were a 24 hour period (based on our time system), sunlight that shows on half of the Earth (when viewed from the side where sunlight and darkness were both visible) would only represent 12 hours. To increase the amount of sunlight received during the Summer solstice from this point, sunlight would have to move further along the latitude to properly represent the total number of hours received on this day. Since the 24 hour period is only half covered, in order to properly represent 16 hours of sunlight, the light would have to shine (from the view represented) another 2 hours. This is a lot more than the current depictions of the Earth at the Summer solstice depicts (the slight angle does not properly represent the time at the required latitudes).
So why is the Earth/Sun relationship depicted improperly?
Look at a diagram of how the Earth is lit by the Sun on the northern hemisphere summer solstice. Pick out the arctic circle. You can see that someone standing on the arctic circle will be carried round by the Earth's rotation in a day, but always remaining in sunlight. Now look at latitude 60ยบ N. Virtually the whole of that line of latitude is sunlit, so a person there would be in sunlight for 20 or so hours a day. As you move southwards, the proportion of each line of latitude in sunlight gradually reduces until you reach the equator, where half of the line of latitude (the equator) is lit, so there is 12 hours of daylight.
Items Recently Purchased From This Site:
| Powered by phpBay Pro |
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.