Why when winter approaches the sunset starts being earlier before the sunrise starts being later and for summer viceversa? (Or at least where I live)
In: Physics
The Earth isn’t pointed straight up and down in space. If you were to look at the solar system from the side, the north pole is actually tilted about 24 degrees off of vertical.
This tilt is responsible for the seasons: during summer, the hemisphere tilted “towards” the sun receives more direct sunlight, while the hemisphere tilted “away” receives oblique sunlight.
Why does this cause the length of the day to change? Well, consider a spinning plate for a moment. If you make two marks on the plate, one close to the rim and the other close to the center, the mark closer to the rim will sweep out a greater distance. Similarly, because the hemisphere that’s experiencing winter is tilted “away” from the sun, one hour carries a point there closer to nighttime than a point experiencing summer.
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