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2007-12-23 08:55:31 · 13 answers · asked by abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.....? 3 in Science & Mathematics Earth Sciences & Geology

13 answers

Sunlight shines directly on the equator, while at the poles the sunlight shines at an extreme angle.
Its like the difference between the temperature at noon and at sundown - at noon the sun is directly overhead and therefore its warmer. At sunset the sun is close to the horizon and the sunlight strikes at an angle.

And in both cases the sunlight has to travel through more atmosphere before it strikes the ground, and that can rob it of some of its energy (heat).

2007-12-23 09:00:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4 1

its because of the angle at which the sun's rays hit Earth. The Earth rotates on an axis defined by the North and South poles, which means the suns' rays are recieved with greater intensity at the equator. This has nothing to do with distance. It has to do with the angle the rays hit, the amount of atmosphere the rays must travel through, etc.

A better question is would be why it is colder at a given latitude in the winter than the summer. More than half the college graduates asked this question in a recent poll didn't know.

Hint - it's not because the Earth is farther from the sun during the winter.

Anybody here wanna take a crack at that one?

2007-12-23 09:07:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3 0

North Equator

2016-12-10 11:33:19 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

This is due to the angle of the sun.

If you take a flashlight and beem it at a wall on a 90 degree angle, you see that the light hits in a nice circle and is bring. Hit the same wall at a 45 degree angle and you'll notice that the same amount of light hits the wall over much larger area and is not a bright. In short, the energy of the light is spread over a larger area.

Since the Earth is a sphere, the angle to the sun is greater near the poles than the equator. Near the poles the same amount of surface areas receives less light energy from the sun as the same area on the equator. Since the poles are also covered in snow and ice, they also tend to reflect light back into space rather than the darker equator regions.

2007-12-23 09:06:54 · answer #4 · answered by bw022 7 · 3 0

The sun is always close to the sun, or at least closer than the poles are, so the equator is hot from more sunlight and the poles are clod from little sunlight.

2007-12-23 14:08:47 · answer #5 · answered by frogman 5 · 1 0

It's easy - read Lindajun above.

Would you go and sunbathe at 7am in summer? Of course not, the sunlight hasn't got much power that early. Why? Because it is low down on the horizon and has to shine diagonally through much more atmosphere, plus its light is spread out (shine a flashlight straight down and it makes a much more intense ring of light than if you shine it 10 meters in from of you).

Well, from the Poles, the sun never climbs high in the sky, and for 6 months of the year it doesn't rise at all.

So, at the Poles, the sun's rays are never much more powerful than your early morning sun's rays.

2007-12-23 12:50:16 · answer #6 · answered by nick s 6 · 2 1

Because the eqator is the only portion of the earth to recieve true direct sunlight, at higher (or lower!) lattitudes the suns rays or more dispersed, which is why the poles are the cooles regions!

2007-12-23 11:23:15 · answer #7 · answered by Midnight-Expressman 2 · 0 0

It's definitely the angle that the sunlight it hitting the earth. The Earth is tilted at about 23 degrees so the sun's rays hit the equator. It's summer in the northern hemisphere when the sunlight is pointing at the northern hemisphere. Same for Southern Hemisphere.

2007-12-23 13:26:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2 1

the way the TILT of the earth on its axis....effect the

AMOUNT of SUNLIGHT that hits the earth in a particular location....

(equator is closer to the sun ...while the N & S poles are furher away....)

2007-12-23 13:37:32 · answer #9 · answered by Sii 7 · 1 0

I think it's because the Equator is cutting right through the core so the heat rays go straight and the Poles are cold because the space has no heat and it's cold the and it's at the two tips of the Earth.

2007-12-23 09:04:35 · answer #10 · answered by Farah H 3 · 1 6

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