Question

Why are there more daylight hours during the summer in any particular hemisphere?

A.
That hemisphere is exposed to the sun for longer periods of time.


B.
The Earth is pointing away from the sun.


C.
The sun's rays hits polar latitudes more directly.


D.
There are actually more daylight hours during the winter.

Answer 1

Answer: A.  That hemisphere is exposed to the sun for longer periods of time.

Explanation:

Let's choose the northern hemisphere to talk about summer, which astronomically begins with the June solstice. At this point the Earth reaches the point of its orbit in which, due to the inclination of its axis, the North Pole is closer to the Sun than the South Pole. However, paradoxically the Earth is at its furthest point from the Sun (aphelion).

In other words, during boreal summer the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun.

This explains the fact that while in the northern hemisphere it is summer and there are high temperatures (because the Sunlight incides more perpendicularly in this area during this season), in the southern hemisphere it is winter and very low temperatures are recorded, and vice versa. These variations are more evident near the poles and softer or imperceptible near the equator.