On June 21 every year, which of the following latitude(s) experience(s) a sunlight of more than 12 hours?

Answer: (d) 2 and 4

Everything north of the equator gets more than 12 hours on 21 June.

Statement by statement

1. ✗ NO — exactly 12 hours The circle of light always cuts the equator in half, so it gets about 12 hours of daylight on every day of the year.

2. ✓ YES — about 13.5 hours On 21 June the Sun is overhead at noon here; it is the northern summer solstice.

3. ✗ NO — about 10.5 hours It is mid-winter in the southern hemisphere.

4. ✓ YES — 24 hours The Sun does not set: the midnight sun.

The idea

Day length depends on latitude and the tilt of Earth’s axis, rather than temperature. Around the June solstice, the northern hemisphere leans towards the Sun. In the textbook model, a northern latitude spends more than half of each rotation in sunlight, while a southern latitude spends less.

Capricorn ~10.5 h → Equator 12 h → Cancer ~13.5 h → Arctic Circle 24 h

Why the others are wrong

(a) The equator gets exactly 12 hours, not more.

(b) The Arctic Circle gets 24 hours — also more than 12.

(c) The Tropic of Capricorn is in winter on 21 June.

The trap

The equator is the hottest latitude, so it feels like it should have the longest day. Its day length never changes.

Elimination technique

Using the textbook day-length model, reject the equator and the southern tropic. This removes (a) and (c); continuous Arctic daylight also rules out (b).

Also know

The polar circles lie near 66.5° north and south, and the tropics near 23.5°. These angles come from Earth’s axial tilt. At the December solstice the hemispheres exchange roles. Actual sunrise-to-sunset daylight is slightly longer than the ideal calculation because air bends sunlight and the Sun is a disc, not a point.