compared to the sun the earth is so small, why do we still have total darkness at night?

Answer 1

sun and the earth are far away, and also the earth is big enough to cover light, not 100%...how does the moon lit up? cause of the sun's refleciton on it if i am not mistaken..

Answer 2

Well, to start with, we ARE much smaller than the sun, but we are also 93 MILLION MILES away from the sun, so some portion of the earth is bound to be in total darkness. There is nothing, other than the moon, on which sunlight can reflect to reach the earth. The rest of the sky is near darkness because the rest of the stars are many, many times further away than our sun.

To get an idea of the differences in size between the earth and the sun, and also the distances, think of it like this: If the sun were a basketball, the earth would be the size of the head of a pin, and would be over 100 feet away!

If someone stands directly behind you with a handheld spotlight, kneels and shines it at the back of your head, you will not see light. You might see a reflection and/or a shadow, particularly if your hair hangs partially in your face, but if there is nothing on which to reflect, it will still be dark. So you can only imagine if the spotlight were much, much further away.

Answer 3

The Earth is large enough that it can create a shadow on the side of the Earth that is farther from the Sun. The side that has night, or darkness, is the side that is away from the Sun at that point in time. This, along with the Earth's tilt, helps to create season. Whichever side of the Earth (the Northern Hemisphere or Southern) is tilted towards the sun is the hemisphere that is going through summer at that time. During the middle of summer and/or winter the poles (North & South) often have either mostly daylight (when the pole is tilted towards the sun) or minimal daylight (when that pole is tilted away from the sun). This is because that pole is tilted towards the sun, so the majority of the Earth that is closer to the sun is on that hemisphere, so there is minimal nightlight in Artic areas during the summer (and vice versa with Antartic areas and winter - which is their summer...). I suppose it's a big confusing, but if you ever were to go to a science museum and/or see a model of the solar system (look at the second link) you would be able to see it a little bit clearer...

Answer 4

Because, when the earth turns it has a shadow on the back side that makes night, while the other side is facing the sun and it is day. It doesnt matter that the earth is smaller than the sun. It is like using your hand to make hand puppets. Your hand may be smaller than the flash light beam, but you still get a shadow on the back of your hand.

Answer 5

Because the Earth rotates so at night the sun is out of sight so it is dark.

Answer 6

Because the earth is a sphere and the light is coming from one source on the opposite side. Take a ball (any size will do) and a flash light. Go in a dark room and shine it on the ball. It will always be dark on the opposite side of the light. This will work with the same flashlight and any size ball, so the relationship of size is inmaterial.

Answer 7

the earth is still large enough to cast a shadow on the other side that isnt facing the sun. the suns rays cant reach behind the earth just because it is big.

Answer 8

because we are facing away from the sun at night. All of the sun's rays pass by the earth and reflect back (to us) when they reflect off objects we can see at night, like the moon.

Answer 9

Because the earth blocks the sun. Besides that, regardless of proximate size, the farther something is away the less it takes to block it.

Answer 10

the sun does light up everything but the earth is in it's own shadow. it's like a nightly eclipse.