Question

Which one of the following cities never experiences vertical rays of the sun during noon?

• A. Chennai
• B. Mangalore
• C. Mumbai
• D. New Delhi

Answer 1

The correct option is D New Delhi

New Delhi,

Any place outside the tropics will never get vertical rays of the sun. The maximum altitude of the sun (at true noon) is given by 90-(latitude-declination), where the declination is the latitude of the sun as measured at the equator. (I know, that is not the correct definition, but it is good enough for our purpose.) The declination of the sun varies from 23.5 N to 23.5 S. As you can see, only for latitudes in the same range (the tropics) can the altitude ever be 90. Thus, for example, Delhi has a latitude of about 28 N, so the maximum altitude of the sun (on June 21) will be about 84.7 degrees, about 5.3 degrees from vertical.