Why does daytime and nighttime occur on earth

Students should be encouraged to make use of observable features of astronomy. These observations can be made during the day as well as at night. They should then be guided to develop their own questions to research and explore. In this way the research is more directed and not simply a fact finding exercise. Opportunities to make models and to manipulate the models to help students explain their ideas should be provided. The manipulation of models also assists students to view the motion of the sun, Earth and the moon from a new perspective of an observer of the whole system as opposed to their usual perspective as an observer on a very small region on the surface of the Earth.

This can be used as a starting point to challenge existing ideas and to explore new ideas. Student drawings and their associated explanations of the motion of the Earth and sun can be used to challenge their existing ideas and to help them to reflect on their understanding.

To help students move from their usual perspective of an observer on a small part of the Earth to an observer outside the Earth simulation computer programs or websites can be used. Students could present posters or diagrams suitable for display on an overhead or data projector to help them to interpret and share new perspectives with their peers.

Students could also explore indigenous interpretations of the motion of the sun and Earth. Some useful sites are:. Our website uses a free tool to translate into other languages.

Your place on the Earth relative to the equator also affects the number of daylight hours you get in a solar day. For example, during summer in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours increase the farther north you go; at this time, the Arctic gets very little nighttime darkness. In the winter, daytime is shorter the farther north you go. The seasonal changes in daylight hours are small near the equator and more extreme close to the poles. Serm Murmson is a writer, thinker, musician and many other things.

He has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago. His concerns include such things as categories, language, descriptions, representation, criticism and labor. He has been writing professionally since How Many Hours of Daylight in Summer? Why Are Days Longer and Shorter? What Are the Causes of the 4 Seasons on Earth? Calendar Year vs.

While you don't feel it, Earth is spinning. Once every 24 hours Earth turns — or rotates on its axis — taking all of us with it. When we are on the side of Earth that is facing the Sun, we have daylight. As Earth continues its spin, we are moved to the side facing away from our Sun, and we have nighttime.

If we were looking down on Earth from above the north pole, we could see that Earth rotates counterclockwise, and we would watch daylight and darkness sweeping across our globe from east to west. Do other planets have day and night? All the planets in our solar system spin on their axes so does our Sun!

There are differences, however, in the length of day and night — the cycles are made even more complex by the tilt of a planet's axis and its rate of orbit. Some planets rotate faster than Earth and some rotate slower. Mars has a day and night cycle similar to Earth. Mars rotates on its axis once every Venus turns once on its axis every Earth days which is only slightly longer than it takes for Venus to go around the Sun!

Mercury's day and night cycle is more complex. Mercury rotates one-and-a-half times during each orbit around the Sun. Because of this, Mercury's day — from sunrise to sunrise — is Earth days long. The larger planets spin much faster. Jupiter rotates once every 10 hours, Saturn spins once every 11 hours, and Neptune completes a rotation in 16 hours. Pluto, at the farthest reaches of our solar system, spins on its axis once every 6.