Hill Brame., Age 10 Of Irving., Tex..,For his question:

Why are some days longer than others?

The orbit of the earth is somewhat like the rim of a saucer. However, it is not quite a perfect circle. As the earth travels around its orbit, it rotates around its axis like a spinning top. If the axis were straight upright, our days and nights would all be equal. If the axis formed a right angle with the orbit, daylight would cover half of the globe frcn pole to pole every day of the year.

But the earth's axis is tilted. It forms an angle of 23.5 degrees instead of a 90 degree right angle. In july, the north polar region is tilted toward the sun; in december, the south polar region is tilted toward the sun. This angle of the earth's axis causes us to have longer sumner days and shorter winter days.