it the earth was tiltled at 0 degrees, how much daylight and darkness would we have in stevens point, wi?

Question

also if the earth was titled at 90 degrees, how much daylight and darkness would we have in stevens point?

Answer 1

I don't know where centretek666 lives, but here in Lincoln, Nebraska, the tilt of the axis definitely makes the days longer in summer and shorter in winter.

Imagine Stevens Point as if it traces a circle around the earth during a 24-hour period (pretend that the earth isn't rotating, but Stevens Pt. just happens to be wandering around). If Stevens Point were on the equator, this circle would be a big circle straddling the whole earth. But since Stevens Pt. is actually much farther north, the circle is considerably smaller. In fact, it's the same as the latitude circle that Stevens Pt. sits on.

Now the question is: how much of that latitude circle is in daylight? If the earth is tipped so the North Pole leans toward the sun, then more than half of the latitude circle will be lit, which means the city will spend more than half of its 24-hour trip in sunlight. (This is why daylight lasts more than 12 hours during summer.)

But now imagine that the earth's tilt is zero. Now look at that latitude circle, and you'll realize that EXACTLY half of it is in sunlight (regardless of the time of year). And this means that Stevens Pt. will be in sunlight for exactly 12 hours as it travels around that circle every day.

Now imagine a 90-degree tilt. In this case, you would have a certain time of the year when the north pole points DIRECTLY at the sun. Now imagine the latitude circle at that time, and you'll realize that the whole circle is in sunlight. That means Steven's Pt. remains in sunlight 24 hours a day.

But 6 months later, when the earth has moved to the other side of the sun, the north pole will be pointing directly AWAY from the sun. Now the Stevens Pt. latitude circle will be in complete darkness, meaning that the city will not see ANY sunlight in a 24-hour period.

Answer 2

Averaged over an entire year, half a year, regardless of tilt.

Zero degrees would result in the day and night always being twelve hours each.

Since Stevens Point is just shy of forty-five degrees north latitude, if the Earth was tilted at ninety degrees for three months there would be total darkness followed by three months of days becoming longer, followed by three months of continuous daylight, followed by three months of days getting shorter.

Answer 3

The tilt of the axis does not affect the length of the day, only the seasons.