Original Project
Weather and Climate I: Basic Elements
Item WC033002: Sunlight feels warmer in the middle of the day than in the morning because the sun is higher in the sky in the middle of the day.
A student notices that sunlight feels warmer in the middle of the day than in the morning. She asks her friends why the sunlight feels warmer in the middle of the day, and she gets four different explanations. Which of the following explanations is TRUE?
- The sunlight is traveling a shorter distance in the middle of the day, and sunlight can warm things on the earth more when it does not travel as far.
- The sun itself is hotter in the middle of the day, and sunlight can warm things on the earth more when the sun is hotter.
- The sun is higher in the sky in the middle of the day, and sunlight can warm things on the earth more when the sun is higher in the sky.
- Clouds block some of the sunlight in the morning, and that is the only thing that would cause the sun to warm her more in the middle of the day than in the morning.
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 4247 |
6–8 n = 2459 |
9–12 n = 1779 |
Male n = 2043 |
Female n = 2100 |
English n = 3703 |
Other n = 392 |
|
| A. | 23% | 22% | 25% | 25% | 22% | 24% | 20% |
| B. | 17% | 18% | 14% | 17% | 16% | 17% | 19% |
| C. | 45% | 44% | 47% | 43% | 48% | 46% | 41% |
| D. | 15% | 16% | 13% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 19% |