The side of the Earth facing the Sun is bathed in light and heat (daytime). There are seven time zones in North AmericaĪs the Earth moves around the Sun it rotates on its axis, so we have day and night.Businesses need to be aware what the time is in different offices around the world!.The Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Royal Observatory.A map showing all of the time zones in the world.These are called the spring and autumn equinoxes. There are two days each year where every place on Earth has 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime.The shortest day of the year is called the winter solstice and the longest day of the year is called the summer solstice.When it is summer here it is winter there, and when it is winter here it is summer there. In the Southern hemisphere the seasons are at opposite times to the Northern hemisphere.There is very little difference between the seasons. Because the equator is halfway between the North and South poles, the days there are always 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime.When the days are long, there is more time for us to get heat from the sun so we get hot summer days. When the days are shorter, there is less time for us to get heat from the sun, so the weather is colder. This is why we get winter.In Britain we don’t have any days when it is always light or always dark, but the days are longer during the times of the year when the North Pole is pointing towards the sun and shorter when it is pointing away from the sun.The North and South poles are as far from the equator as you can get. Britain is in the Northern hemisphere and is slightly closer to the North Pole than it is to the equator. The Earth is also split into Northern and Southern hemispheres, which are divided by an imaginary line called the equator.The Earth spins around an imaginary line that runs between the South Pole and the North Pole. This line isn’t completely straight – so, sometimes the North Pole is pointing away from the sun for long periods of time and it is always dark there, and sometimes the North Pole points towards the sun for long periods of time and it is always light there.The length of time between sunrise and sunset is called daytime. The time when it appears is called sunrise, and the time when it disappears is called sunset. The sun rises from behind the Earth in the East and sinks below the Earth in the West.Find out more about the sun and the Earth. The Earth is always spinning around – sometimes from where you stand on the Earth you can see the Sun (this is the daytime) and sometimes the part of the Earth where you are is facing away from the Sun so it is dark (this is the nighttime). It takes 24 hours for the Earth to spin all the way around, and we call this a day.That means that it is a different day on each side of the line. On one side of the line time is 12 hours behind Britain, and on the other side time is 12 hours ahead of Britain. On the opposite side of the world from London is the International Date Line.The world is split into time zones. Continental Europe is in the time zone to the east of Britain, so time is one hour ahead there when it is 1pm in Britain it is 2pm in France.The (imaginary) line between the Eastern and Western hemispheres is called the ‘Prime Meridian’ and it goes through Greenwich Royal Observatory in London.To help us understand where we are in the world, we also split the world into right and left halves called the Eastern hemisphere and the Western hemisphere.Imagine celebrating Christmas on a long, hot summer day! In the Southern hemisphere the seasons are the other way around. When it is summer in Europe, it is winter in Australia.In London, the longest day is about 16 hours and 39 minutes and the shortest is 7 hours and 45 minutes. In summer the days are longer than they are in winter.In the Northern hemisphere, we have summer in June, July and August and winter is in December, January and February.The (imaginary) line between them is called the equator. We call the top half the Northern hemisphere and the bottom half the Southern hemisphere. At any moment, half of the world is in daytime and half is in nighttime.It takes 24 hours for the Earth to turn all the way around (rotation).Days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. Over a year, the length of the daytime in the part of the Earth where you live changes. It takes 24 hours for the world to turn all the way around, and we call this a day. ![]() ![]() We get day and night because the Earth spins (or rotates) on an imaginary line called its axis and different parts of the planet are facing towards the Sun or away from it. Nighttime is when the sun is on the other side of the Earth from you, and its light and heat don’t get to you. Daytime is when you can see the sun from where you are, and its light and heat can reach you.
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