Question

A very rich, very shady international banker (with residences all over the globe, including Bayonne, New Jersey) mysteriously disappears. Someone later mails a wide-angle photo of his body to a London newspaper, taken on June 22, showing the Sun exactly overhead at noon. What can the police deduce from this photograph about where on Earth the body is located?

a. at the equator
b. at the North Pole
c. on the Antarctic circle (670 S)
d. on the Tropic of Cancer (230 N)
e. at the South pole

Answer 1

The answer is Option D: The Tropic of Cancer (230 N).

Step-by-step explanation:

In this example, the date is significant because the sun is directly over the tropic of cancer at noon during the summer solstice. This usually happens around June 21 every year. Therefore being June 22 when the photo was taken, it is likely the body is somewhere around the Tropic of Cancer in terms of latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, the peak of sunlight during the day usually occurs between June 20-22 of any given year. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere reaches peak sunlight from December 21-23. Conversely, during the winter solstice, the Northern hemisphere gets the most darkness it will see.