Transcript day_and_night - Primary Resources

Why do we have day and night?
The sun is the star at the centre of
our solar system.
The nine planets orbit the sun.
As the earth orbits the sun it
spins on its own axis.
Do you know how long it takes for
the Earth to spin around once?
That’s right! It takes 24 hours.
Don’t worry!
The earth spins so slowly and smoothly
we can’t feel it.
At any time half of the Earth faces the sun.
This part has day.
day
night
The other half of the Earth faces away from the Sun.
It receives no light.
This part has night.
When it is day in Britain, on the other side of
the world it is night.
Did you know?
One day on Venus is the same as 117 Earth
days.
The mighty Jupiter whips around in just 9
hours and 57 minutes.
One day on Mars is about the same as
one day on Earth.
You should now be able to tell your partner
the answer to these questions:
Does the sun move ?
Why is it day in
Britain but night in
Australia?
How long does it take for
the Earth to spin once?
What is is like on Earth when that part
spins away from the sun?
ACTIVITY
This is Bleep-Bloop the
alien.
Don’t worry he’s
quite friendly!
Bleep-Bloop comes from a solar system far far away.
When he visited Earth he couldn’t understand where the big
ball of fire in the sky went each night.
Write a letter to him explaining what the big ball of fire is
and where it goes.
You should use these words:
Sun
Earth
spins axis solar system
day night