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Q15 (IAS/2024) Geography › World Physical Geography › Earth rotation and time Official Key

On June 21 every year, which of the following latitude(s) experience(s) a sunlight of more than 12 hours ? 1. Equator 2. Tropic of Cancer 3. Tropic of Capricorn 4. Arctic Circle Select the correct answer using the code given below :

Result
Your answer:  ·  Correct: D
Explanation

The correct answer is option D (2 and 4 - Tropic of Cancer and Arctic Circle).

At the equator, all days of the year have the same number of hours of light and dark[1], meaning it receives exactly 12 hours of sunlight on June 21, not more than 12 hours. Therefore, statement 1 is incorrect.

On June 21, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, and the rays of the sun fall directly on the Tropic of Cancer, and since a large[2] portion of the northern hemisphere is getting light from the sun, it is summer in the regions north of the equator[2]. The Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight for more than 12 hours in June[3], which means the Tropic of Cancer experiences more than 12 hours of sunlight. Therefore, statement 2 is correct.

The Tropic of Capricorn is in the southern hemisphere, which experiences winter during June 21, resulting in less than 12 hours of sunlight. Therefore, statement 3 is incorrect.

At the Arctic Circle, the Sun never 'sets' at mid-summer (21 June) and there is a complete 24-hour period of continuous daylight[4]. Therefore, statement 4 is correct.

Thus, both the Tropic of Cancer (2) and Arctic Circle (4) experience more than 12 hours of sunlight on June 21.

Sources
  1. [1] https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education/optical-phenomena/what-solstice
  2. [2] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 19: The Motions of The Earth and Their Effects > Summer Solstice > p. 252
  3. [3] Science-Class VII . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 12: Earth, Moon, and the Sun > 12.2.2 Seasons on the Earth > p. 177
  4. [4] Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 2: The Earth's Crust > The Earth's Revolution > p. 7
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Q. On June 21 every year, which of the following latitude(s) experience(s) a sunlight of more than 12 hours ? 1. Equator 2. Tropic of Cance…
At a glance
Origin: Books + Current Affairs Fairness: Moderate fairness Books / CA: 7.5/10 · 2.5/10
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This is a fundamental 'Earth Mechanics' question directly from Class 6 NCERT. It penalizes rote learning of dates without visualizing the tilt. If you cannot visualize the 'Circle of Illumination' relative to the axis, you lose easy marks. It is a test of pure conceptual clarity over information overload.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Do locations on the Equator receive more than 12 hours of sunlight on June 21 every year?
Origin: Web / Current Affairs Fairness: CA heavy Web-answerable

Web source
Presence: 5/5
"At the equator, all days of the year have the same number of hours of light and dark."
Why this source?
  • States that the equator has the same number of hours of daylight and dark every day of the year.
  • This directly implies the equator does not receive more than 12 hours of sunlight specifically on June 21.
Web source
Presence: 3/5
"On the two equinoxes—March and September—that pierced point is on the Equator. But as the tilted Earth revolves around the Sun, that pierced point moves across"
Why this source?
  • Explains that the Sun is directly overhead on the equator on the two equinoxes (March and September), not on the June 21 solstice.
  • Implying June 21 is not a date when the equator gets extra daylight compared with its usual day length.

Science-Class VII . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 12: Earth, Moon, and the Sun > FASCINATING FACTS > p. 179
Strength: 5/5
“At the North Pole, the Sun rises in the East direction on the equinox day — 21 March, and remains continuously in the sky for six months. The Sun sets on 22 September. The South Pole experiences the opposite behaviour. The polar regions thus experience continuous sunshine for six months followed by a six-month period of darkness. On the equator, there is always 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. There is little diff erence in the intensity of the sunrays falling on the equator in diff erent months. Thus, for the southern states of India that lie close to the equator, the eff ect of seasons is not very prominent.”
Why relevant

Explicit rule-like statement: 'On the equator, there is always 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness.'

How to extend

A student could combine this rule with knowledge of Earth's tilt and the date of solstice to check if the equator's day length should change on June 21.

Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 19: The Motions of The Earth and Their Effects > Summer Solstice > p. 252
Strength: 4/5
“• On 21st June, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, and the rays of the sun fall directly on the Tropic of Cancer. As a result, these areas receive more heat. Since a large portion of the northern hemisphere is getting light from the sun, it is summer in the regions north of the equator. The longest day and the shortest night across the northern hemisphere occur on the 21st of June. This position of the earth is called the summer solstice. During summer solstice the whole Arctic region falls within the 'zone of illumination' all day long.• At this time in the southern hemisphere, all these conditions are reversed.”
Why relevant

Describes the June 21 (summer solstice) geometry: northern hemisphere tilted toward the Sun and areas north of the equator receive more than 12 hours of daylight.

How to extend

Use the solstice geometry to reason whether the equator, lying between hemispheres, would experience a notable increase above 12 hours on that date.

Science-Class VII . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 12: Earth, Moon, and the Sun > 12.2.2 Seasons on the Earth > p. 177
Strength: 4/5
“12.9). As seen in Fig. 12.10a, a given amount of sunrays are spread in a smaller area in the Northern Hemisphere as compared to the Southern Hemisphere due to the spherical shape of the Earth's surface. So that area is heated more. Further, the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight for more than 12 hours in June (Fig. 12.11a). So, the Northern Hemisphere experiences more intense sunlight, which lasts for a longer time, causing the summer season. In December, the situation is opposite in the Northern Hemisphere and it experiences winter season with sunlight for shorter time (Fig. 12.10b and Fig. 12.11b).”
Why relevant

States that the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight for more than 12 hours in June and contrasts hemisphere-wide daylength changes with equatorial conditions.

How to extend

Compare hemisphere-wide increases in daylength with the equator's purported constant 12-hour day to judge if equatorial locations would exceed 12 hours on June 21.

Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 2: The Earth's Crust > The Earth's Revolution > p. 7
Strength: 3/5
“The Sun never 'rises' and there is darkness for the whole day in mid-winter on 22 December. Beyond the Arctic Circle, the number of days with complete darkness increases, until we reach the North Pole (90° N) when half the year will have darkness. [In the summer (June), conditions are exactly reversed. Daylight increases as we go polewards. At the Arctic Circle, the Sun never 'sets' at mid-summer (21 June) and there is a complete 24-hour period of continuous daylight. In the southern hemisphere, the same process takes place, except that the conditions are reversed. When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere will experience winter.”
Why relevant

Explains that beyond the Arctic Circle there are 24-hour daylight conditions at mid‑summer, implying daylength varies with latitude during solstices.

How to extend

Combine this latitude-dependent variation with a map showing the equator's latitude to infer whether equatorial daylength is expected to change on solstice dates.

Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 2: The Earth's Crust > Sample Objective Ouestions > p. 16
Strength: 3/5
“• 1. Moscow and Nairobi are on the same line of longitude (37'E), it can thus be deduced that A they are of equal distance from the equator B they have similar hours of daylight on 21 June C they have noon at the same time D dawn is of the same duration in both places • 2. The World Cup Final between West Germany and Holland was played at Munich (Longitude ll"E) at 5.00 p.m. on 7 July 1974 • A 500 hours (5 a.m.) • B 15 00 hours (3 p.m.) • C 600 hours (6 a.m.) • D 16 00 hours (4 p.m.) • 5.”
Why relevant

School-style question noting two places on same longitude can have 'similar hours of daylight on 21 June', implying daylength depends on latitude and date.

How to extend

A student could use the longitude/latitude idea plus a world map to compare equatorial locations with higher-latitude locations on June 21 to see if equatorial daylength differs from 12 hours.

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Statement analysis

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On 21st June, the Sun