The city that went to sleep towards the end of 2020. Polar Night and the Midnight Sun

 Hello web wanderers have u ever wondered as to what will happen if the sun won't rise the next morning or so. Ya you probably would have thought of it as a kid. But what if I say this actually happens in some polar countries, not for one but for many days. Imagine what would be the consequences of it and why does it happen in the first place? Let's delve right in and find out. 

Polar night

Utqiagvik is a town in the North of the artic circle which experienced the Sun about a month back for the last time and won't see it till the end of January. Many other countries near the poles experiences this. Well this phenomenon of night (the sun remains below the horizon) prevailing for 24*7 is way too common for the people in this town of Alaska. This phenomenon, when the night time prevails for more than 24 hours is known as polar night. This is the real life incident of what we say in movies as dark prevails over the light. Well I agree I am not so good at cracking jokes. But jokes aside, lets try and understand the physics behind it.

Well we all are familiar that our planet is not straight but a bit tilted on its axis. It is due to this tilt that we experience polar night. There comes a particular time in the year when the time of rotation of earth on its own axis and its position with respect to the sun becomes synchronised in such a way that a particular part of the earth will not get exposed to the sun for a period of time. This causes a temporary dark spot in around the north pole or the south pole. Well its difficult to make you understand this concept just with words. It will be better if you take a globe and try this on your own and make observations.

source: wikipedia

Hope my explanation was understandable, If not then visit the source by clicking the above link and come back here. 

The effects of polar night on the citizens.

Sun is the source of energy for all of the organisms. But more importantly the sun is very closely related to our body clock. To make it clear, our body is used to do the activities with respect to the sun's position in the sky. For example, we get up with the sun and sleep as it sets. So for someone like you and me our sleep and diurnal cycle is very much depended on the intensity of light by the sun. So, the most common problem that arises from this is lack of sleep and disbalance in the daily diurnal cycle. Other problems include dizziness, lack of energy and loneliness. Even depression is common in such occasions. You can refer to the attached video at the end of this topic to know as to how the people feel about it.

The next question that arises is how do the people cope up to this problem. The people of Utqiagvik have adapted themselves to this problem. They light their houses very well in order to have the sense of day whenever necessary. They focus on their diet so a to gain as much energy as they can. They organize meets and go for fishing and other related stuff to spend their time. And with time their bodies have completely adapted themselves to the condition. But for someone like you and me it will be extremely difficult to survive. You can check out this video by popular youtuber VSAUCE as to what happens to your sleep cycle with change in environment, especially lighting.

Midnight sun : the complete opposite

Midnight sun is the complete opposite of the polar night, that is the sun remains above the horizon for more than 24 hours. This phenomenon happens in the similar locations where the polar nights happen, that is the poles. But on the contrary to polar night which happens in winter, the midnight sun occurs in the summer. The best example is Antarctica where both of these phenomenon can be observed. Antarctica experiences day for 6 months and night for 6 months straight. Also, as the sunlight is refracted by the atmosphere, midnight sun's last for longer than the polar nights and the area covered by polar night is also smaller than that of polar night.

Now to cut the story short, polar night is a phenomenon that seems impossible, but due to the magic of geography and physics, we can observe it. During the polar nights the inhabitants get to see the northern lights in the winter, which is a sight to behold and all the problems faced vanishes with this sight. And the celebration during the sunrise after a couple of months is spectacular and magnificent. Well do you want to know more about northern lights, do comment if u want to. And follow us to check the article as soon as it releases.