Earth rotation: night and day

TLF ID L696

Watch an animation of the Earth rotating in space showing day and night, the equinox where locations on Earth experience close to equal hours of daytime and night-time (12 hours) and views of the Earth from above the North and South Poles. Turn an animated model of the Earth to explore how rotation is related to night and time of day. Notice that when the Sun shines on one side of the Earth, the other side is in darkness. Answer a series of questions by experimenting with the model. For example, when the Sun rises in New Zealand, what is the approximate time in Sydney? This learning object is one in a series of four objects.





Educational details

Educational value
  • Provides opportunities to explore how the rotation of the Earth affects the objects seen in the sky.
  • Includes an animated model that can be manipulated to determine how the Earth’s rotation is related to the visible cycle of day and night.
  • Tests understanding of key concepts through an interactive quiz.
  • Supports repeated use by random variation of questions.
Year level

2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8

Learning area
  • Science

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: CADRE Design
  • Organization: CADRE Design
  • Description: Technical implementer
  • Address: NSW, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.cadre.com.au/
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Person: Rod Rees
  • Description: Script writer
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Colour independence
  • Device independence
  • Hearing independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Interactive
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2016, except where indicated under Acknowledgements. Unless otherwise indicated, this material may be used in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.