Day vs. Night Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Day vs. Night - Essay Example In looking at these kinds of oppositions, it is sometimes helpful to discover the various ways in which the elements involved are similar in order to understand better about how they are actually different. When it comes to discussing ideas, we tend to try to lump things into a yes or no situation, black or white or day or night. When you look closer at the picture, though, there is often a lot more maybe, grey or dusk involved in the comparison. One opposition considered so opposite that they have nothing at all in common is the opposition of day and night. There are many ways in which day and night are similar. They are both required to make up a complete cycle of the earth for example. While the time period of one may be longer at one time of the year, it is generally shorter at another time so that the world is dark approximately half the time and light the other half the time. Both day and night are regulated in their duration by the rotation of the earth around the sun and are a natural part of the physical properties of the world. Life on earth has developed with a dependence upon these alternating cycles of light and darkness in order to survive. Some plants and animals depend upon the hours of sunlight to generate the energy they require to survive just as they require the hours of darkness as a time in which they are able to regenerate. However, different processes occur at night, making different plants and animals active during this period of time under the cover of darkness and rest during the daylight hours. Both day and n ight are bordered by periods of transition in which it is neither day nor night and they are both presided over by a heavenly body. Despite these similarities, though, it is true that there are at least as many differences between day and night as there are similarities. While day is presided over by the brilliant yellow light of the sun, the night is ruled by the reflected blue light of the moon. Although the