At the end of November, our Military team headed to Alaska to spread the word about Tutor.com for Military Families. While we were there we found a lot of things that were unusual to us cheechakos (an Alaskan word for newcomers). Like why does the sun set at 3:47? Why do we need to carry static clings in our clothes? The list goes on and on! So, when we got back we asked a few of our tutors to help explain the science of it all. Here’s what we found out!
Question #1: Why are the days so short in Alaska this time of year? [7th-8th Grade Science]
Answer: The days are shorter in Alaska because the tilt of the earth’s axis and its location near the North Pole points it away from the sun during the winter months. Because of this, the light from the sun (which causes it to be day) doesn’t reach Alaska during a longer period of the day.