Electricity - Spigot Science

Geography ConnectionWhat Night Lights Tell UsBy David CochranWe can learn a lot by studying pictures. One of the best sources of pictures is NASA, which has beensending pictures of Earth taken in space for many years. In the photos below, we can see the amount of electricityused in different parts of the world at night. Look at the pictures and discuss possible answers to thequestions below. You may want to use an atlas to identify countries and states in the night photosPhoto of the United States at night taken from spaceNASAUSA at Night1. Using a map of the UnitedStates that has the names ofplaces on it, list three states thathave a lot of lights.2. Name some states where veryfew lights are showing.3. Why do some areas have somany lights and others have sofew?4. In an almanac or online, findthe population of three statesthat have a lot of lights. Findthe population of three statesthat have few lights. Do youthink there is a connection betweenpopulation and electricityuse? Why or why not?Africa, Europe, and Middle East at Night1. Which has more lights, Africa, Europe, or theMiddle East?2. Which has the least lights?3. Where are most of the lights in Africa?4. Why do you think the lights in Africa are wherethey are?5. Why do some places in Africa have few or nolights?6. Some say there is a connection between electricityand poverty. If this is true, which of thesenations is rich and which is poor?7. What other reason besides poverty could be areason for fewer lights?8. If you could make one statement about this map,what would it be?Photo of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East at nightSpigot Science - http://www.spigotscience.com 19 ElectricityNASA