Original Project
Weather and Climate II: Seasonal Differences
Changes in the orientation of earth’s axis of rotation with respect to the sun over the course of a year cause…
Item WC041003: Sunlight can warm a lake by different amounts during a day depending on the position of the sun in the sky.
The photographs below show the sun at two different positions in the sky above a lake: One shows the sun high in the sky and one shows the sun lower in the sky. In both positions, nothing blocks the sunlight from reaching the whole lake.
Sun high in the sky Sun low in the sky
Would sunlight warm the lake by different amounts when the sun is at different positions in the sky?
- Yes, because the position of the sun changes the angle at which sunlight hits the lake, which determines how much the lake is warmed by sunlight
- Yes, because the position of the sun changes the distance that sunlight must travel to reach the lake, which determines how much the lake is warmed by sunlight
- No, because how much the lake is warmed by sunlight does not depend on where the sun is in the sky or on the angle at which sunlight hits the lake
- No, because a lake cannot be warmed by sunlight
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 2570 |
6–8 n = 1524 |
9–12 n = 1041 |
Male n = 1263 |
Female n = 1252 |
English n = 2207 |
Other n = 241 |
|
| A. | 49% | 50% | 47% | 49% | 49% | 50% | 43% |
| B. | 27% | 25% | 29% | 26% | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| C. | 18% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 22% |
| D. | 7% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 10% |