Student Exploration: Angle of Sunlight

[Pages:2]Name: ______________________________________ ID: _________ Period: _________

Student Exploration: Angle of Sunlight

Question: How does the angle of light affect heating? 1. Is it usually hotter outside when the Sun is low in the sky, such as early in the morning, or when the Sun is

high in the sky, around noon? ___________________________________

2. Observe: Drag the flashlight to several different angles. When is the light beam most concentrated on the piece of wood? __________________________________________

3. Form hypothesis: How will the angle of light affect how much the piece of wood is heated? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

4. Predict: Which angle will result in the hottest piece of wood? _______________________

5. Experiment: For each angle listed below, record the final temperature of the wood after 3 hours of heating with the flashlight.

Final temperature

20? angle 40? angle 60? angle 80? angle 90? angle

6. Draw conclusions: Why did increasing the angle of the beam of light cause the wood to heat up more?

_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

7. Apply: St. Louis, Missouri, is located near the middle of the United States. On June 21, the noon Sun rays

hit St. Louis at an angle of 75?. On December 21, the noon Sun rays hit at an angle of 28?. How will this affect the temperature in St. Louis on these dates? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

Angle of Sunlight

The Sun releases an enormous amount of energy as sunlight in all directions. Because Earth is small and far away, we receive only a small amount of that energy, which arrives as parallel rays of light.

? When sunlight strikes Earth's surface _________ ____________, it is more intense.

? When sunlight strikes at a shallower angle, it is ____________ because it spreads over a larger area.

_________

Directions: Use the Computer Interactive to complete the chart below. Analyze how the angle of sunlight affects the temperature in different parts of the Earth on March 21, 2014.

City

Angle of Sunlight (Drawing)

Temperature

Amount of Sunlight (direct or indirect)

New York

Miami

Singapore

Australia

Which city had the most DIRECT sunlight? ___________________ Which city had the HIGHEST temperature? ___________________

Which city had the most INDIRECT sunlight? __________________ Which city had the LOWEST temperature? ____________________

Explain how the amount of sunlight affects the daily temperature? _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

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