Day and Night
This Topic is About...
- I will explain what causes night and day.
- I will use a globe as a model to show night and day.
- I will complete and label a diagram.
You’re going to be a science explorer!
Key Words
- anticlockwise
- axis
- globe
- spin
- tilted
Tap to Learn the Meanings!
- anticlockwise: Moving in the opposite direction to the hands of a clock.
- axis: An imaginary line that something spins around, like Earth.
- globe: A round model of Earth showing land and oceans.
- spin: To turn around quickly in circles.
- tilted: Leaning or slanted, not straight up.
Well done learning these geography words!
A model of the Earth
The globe is a model of the Earth. It is shaped like a ball and it has a stick passing through it from the North Pole to the South Pole. This stick represents the Earth’s axis. In space, the Earth is not upright. The Earth leans over, or tilts. The Earth is tilted on an imaginary axis like the globe.
The Earth spins
The Earth turns round and round or spins all the time on its axis. If you look at the top of the Earth – that is, the North Pole – the Earth spins in an anticlockwise direction. This is the opposite way to the hands on a clock.
The Earth does one complete turn on its axis every 24 hours.
Let’s explore spinning
Find your country on the globe. Put a piece of sticky tape on your country. Now spin the globe on its axis and watch your country go round and round. This movement happens all the time but we do not notice it.
Imagine driving very fast. You are travelling at 120 mph, which seems fast. But Earth is spinning on its axis at least ten times faster than this!
In the next investigation you will see how spinning causes day and night.
Let’s Investigate!
Question: How can we use a model to show day and night?
Equipment: A globe, a sticker, a flashlight
Method:
- In your model, the flashlight represents the Sun and the globe represents the Earth. Shine the flashlight on the globe to show the Sun shining on the Earth.
- Spin the globe in an anticlockwise direction.
- Observe which part of the Earth is lit up. Can the whole Earth be lit up at one time?
- Stick a sticker on one part of the globe to represent a location on Earth.
- Continue to shine the flashlight on the globe while it spins. Watch what happens to the sticker.
- Is the sticker lit up by the flashlight all the time? When the sticker is in the light, it is ‘day’, and when it is in the dark, it is ‘night’.
Follow-up Questions:
Tap to See Answers
- 1: The Sun only shines on one side of the Earth at a time, so one side has daylight while the other side is in darkness.
- 2: The model shows that as the Earth spins, different parts move into and out of the light, creating day and night.
- 3: If the Earth did not spin, one side would always have daylight, and the other side would always be dark.
Excellent thinking! You’ve used a model just like a real scientist.
FUN QUESTIONS
1. Copy and complete this sentence:
The Earth ______ on its axis once every 24 hours.
This movement causes ______ and ______.
Show answer
2. Copy the diagram. Find the half of the Earth having night and colour it black. Find the half of the Earth having day and colour it yellow.
Show answer
3. Ali lives in Malaysia. Farouk lives in Spain. If Ali wants to contact Farouk he should phone when it is evening in Malaysia. Why shouldn’t he phone Farouk when it is lunchtime in Malaysia?
Show answer
4. What would it be like if the Earth completed one rotation every 10 hours?
Show answer
How am I doing?
- Explain the idea of night and day to a younger person such as a younger brother or sister.
- Plan how you could explain night and day with a model using objects at home.