Sunrise Sunset

PoS - use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night Sunrise and NaG – pupils should be introduced to a model of the Sun and Earth that enables them to explain day and night; pupils should learn that Sunset? the Sun is a star at the centre of our solar system

The Sun is a star at the centre of our solar system. The planets, including the Earth, orbit (go round) the Sun. The Earth also spins on its own axis. It spins once every 24 hours. Because the earth spins, it has night and day. The side of the Earth facing the sun has daylight , and the side of the Earth facing away from the sun has night time . As the Earth turns away from night time towards day time, it starts with a sunrise (the Sun appears to rise up into the sky) and as the Earth turns away from daytime towards night time it ends with a sunset (the Sun appears to move down the sky).

Throughout the year, the amount of daytime we get changes. In the winter months, when it is wet and cold we get less daylight, in the summer months when it is warm and dry we get more daylight. In the winter, the Sun rises later and sets earlier. In the summer time, the Sun rises earlier and sets later.

Look at the sunrise and sunset times below. They show the times for the first day of each month for a typical year in a town in England. These times are rounded to the nearest 30 minutes.

1) Complete the table by working out how many hours of sunshine there was on the

first day of each month.

Month Sunrise Sunset Total hours of sunshine January 1st 8:00 16:00 February 1st 7:30 16:30 March1st 6:30 17:30 April 1st 6:00 19:30 May 1st 5:30 20:30 June 1st 5:00 21:00 July 1st 4:30 21:30 August 1st 5:00 20:30 September 1st 6:00 19:30 October 1st 7:00 18:30 November 1st 7:00 16:30 December 1st 7:30 16:00

2) Plot the number of daylight hours for the first day of each month into a bar graph.

3) Look at your graph and explain what you notice about the number of daylight hours during the course of a year.

4) Why do you think some months have more daylight hours than others?

5) What else is different between the months that have the most and least daylight hours? (Clue – think about the clothes you wear and why during the year)