The Name wrote:

I looked up some sunset and sunrise times today comparing Cambridge MA
to Boca Raton FL.
I understand why the sunset is later in Boca (it's further West, sees
the sun go down later), but that's only by 7 minutes.

Why is the sunRISE so much later (more than an hour later) there than
in Cambridge MA? If the length of day is the same, shouldn't Boca's
sunrise by 7 minutes later than Cambridge's?

The duration of daylight isn't the same in Boca and Cambridge.

It's only a coincidence that the sunrise times are nearly identical.
If you were comparing the rise and set times in Cambridge with thoe
for at a point on the same line of longitude down in the middle of the
Bermuda Triangle, then the rise and set times would be symmetrical
about local noon, so to speak--but the difference in daylight duration
would be just as great.

Look at the 8/7/09 times and you'll see what I mean. Can the tilt
of the earth at this time of year give MA quite that much more daylight
than a point (globally speaking) not that much further South?

Yep. Go far enough North this time of year and the Sun never sets. Go
far enough south (to the equator) and the day is always the same
duration as night (hence the name of that particular parallel).
--
Dave