In the margin of your paper describe what you think causes day and night. Share your answer with a partner.

1. Earth completes one rotation on its axis every 24 hours.

2. As Earth rotates, the Sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.

3. The stars, Moon, and planets appear to move across the sky each night because of Earth’s rotation.

4. At dawn and dusk, shadows are long, and at midday, they are short.

What do you think causes the seasons? Write your idea in the margin of your paper. Share your answer with a partner.

5. Each year, Earth complete one revolution around the Sun.

6. In June, the North Pole is tilted toward the Sun, so sunlight hits the Northern Hemisphere at a steeper angle.

7. In summer, light is more intense than it is in winter.

8. In December, the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, so sunlight hits the Northern Hemisphere at a low angle.

9. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

10. In Northern Alaska, summer nights are short but during winter the sun hardly appears.

11. The Sun rises higher in the sky in summer than it does in winter.

12. Near the equator, the Sun’s apparent path changes less during the year than at higher latitudes.

13. The Sun’s path repeats itself every year, so it is possible to predict the time the sun will rise and set.

14. If the Earth rotated and revolved in the opposite direction, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east. However, the seasons would follow in the same order.

What do you think would be different if Earth rotated and revolved in the opposite direction? What would stay the same? Share your answer with a partner.