The end of winter is fast approaching with the beginning of a new season; spring. It made me think of how we actually have different seasons on our planet. How do we know when it is a certain season? It can't be determined by the temperature outside because sometimes in winter it can be as warm as a summer day. I wonder if it has anything to do with the length of the days? In winter, it seems like it gets darker earlier. In summer, it seems like it is the opposite. Hmmm....
Use the picture above and any research to describe the changing of the seasons. What causes seasons? Do the earth and sun have anything to do with it? Try to explain this in your own words and use specific details from your research to prove your point.
CHALLENGE: There are two terms I want you to understand when talking about seasons:equinox and solstice. What do they mean? How do they relate to the seasons?
22 comments:
Since the Earth has an oval shaped orbit, sometimes it is closer to the sun while other times it is farther. When the Earth is closer to the sun, the Earth is warm and we call that time of the year summer. When the Earth is heading out further from the sun, it gets cold but not very cold. We call this fall. When the Earth is furthest from the Sun it is very cold and we call this time winter. When the Earth is coming closer to the sun, it gets warmer; but not too warm; and we call this time spring.
I slightly disagree with kedar, it is not the whole Earth that is warm in Summer and cold in the Winter. For the southern hemisphere it is the exact opposite, in the winters it is warm and in the summers it is cold.
MY method without research: The earth turns in many directions and eventually moves farther away from the sun and we have shorter days. If that is what's happening now it is probably winter or fall. When it gets closer it is spring or summer.
Challenge: 1.equinox:the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21.
The change of spring back to winter again must cross the process of equinox and it helps change the weather and climate throughout the seasons
2.either of the two times a year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator: about June 21, when the sun reaches its northernmost point on the celestial sphere, or about December 22, when it reaches its southernmost point.
Sources:dictionary.com
We know when it is a certain season by the Earth's distance from the sun. For example, Summer happens when the Earth is closest to the sun and because of that the air becomes warmer and the temperature increases. In Winter, the Earth is on the farthest part of the it's oval shaped orbit around the sun therefore meaning that the air will be colder and the days will be shorter. Like Kedar says, in Fall, the Earth is heading out farther from the sun, the days start to get a little colder. Spring is the time where it has just navigated out of Summer and going around the orbit a little farther away to become a nice warm season a little colder than Summer.
Solstices occur twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is oriented directly towards or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to appear to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes.
In astronomy, equinox can have two meanings;
The event that the Sun is positioned directly over the Earth's equator and, by extension, the apparent position of the Sun at that moment, or the time that it happens.The other one is the time at which the vernal point, celestial equator, and other such elements are taken to be used in the definition of a celestial coordinate system.
The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some languages they are considered to start or separate the seasons; in others they are considered to be centre points (in English, in the Northern hemisphere, for example, the period around the June solstice is known as midsummer, and Midsummer's Day is 24 June, about three days after the solstice itself). Similarly 25 December is the start of the Christmas, and is the day the sun begins to return back to the northern hemisphere.
All of your scientific understandings are very interesting, especially since you are giving specific explanations for your reasons. Be sure to put your explanation in YOUR OWN WORDS!!!! Anyone can copy information. And...it is illegal!!!
The rotation of the earth causes seasons because in winter, the place we live on is farther than the sun. The earth is an oval. When the earth moves closer to the sun, we have summer. When the sun moves back, it becomes winter since the sun is what gives the earth heat.
The earth is an oval?!?! Be sure you can explain the difference between an orbit and a rotation. There is a difference.
As you know the earth is on a tilted axis and spinning frequently on it. When the Earth is spun so that the U.S. is directly facing the sun we call it summer. Other countries on a different part of the world will not be having summer. When the Earth is spun so that the U.S.
is to the right of the sun we call it fall.When it is opposite from the sun we call it winter. When it is to the right we call it spring.
The equinox are the times of year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are about the equal length. In the Northern Hemisphere, the vernal equinox occurs on March 20 or 21 and the autumnal equinox occurs on September 22 or 23.
The solstice is a little like the equinox. The solstice is when either the sun is farthest north or south of the celestial equator of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice happens on June 20 or June21 and the winter solstice happens on December 21 or 22.
I did some research and it's has something to do about the Earth's elliptcal movement. So for some six months, the Earth reaches perihelion, the point where it's closest to the sun. If I had to guess, that time would be summer. After another six months or so, aphelion is the next checkpoint for Earth. Aphelion is the farthest point from the sun so that would probably be winter. If the Earth's location is somewhere between the summmer and winter location, it would be spring and if Earth's location is somewhere between the spring and winter location, it would probably be fall. This is not the main point why we have season but it does affect the season we have. To answer the challenge question, a solstice occurs twice a year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is oriented directaly or away from the sun. That's why it looks like the sun comes from its nothernmost or southernmost extremes. I think when the sun appears from the northernmost, the axis is facing the sun since north is above you so you're facing the sun and the opposite for the sun appearing the southernmost. Equinox is when the sun positioned above the Earth's equator. I think equinox is harder to understand and actually, it has two meanings in astronomy.
Equinox: When the sun and moves across the earth's equator making the nights and days about the same length of time. This usually happens on March 21st and September 22.
Solstice: Either of the two times a year when the sun is at its largest distance from the celestial equator. It happens at around June 21, when the sun reaches its most northern point on the celestial sphere, on around December 22, when it reaches its most southern point.
Seasons are caused by the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth. Since the Earth is tilted, during the winter the suns energy has to go through more atmosphere to get to the S/N poles. The amount of energy spreads over a larger area.
When the northern hemisphere of the earth is tilted towards the sun, it is having summer while the southern hemisphere is having winter because that part of the earth is tilted away from the sun. When the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it is having winter while the southern hemisphere is having summer because that part is tilted towards the sun. I think the earth and the sun do have something to do with the seasons because the earth's tilt is making one part having summer and the other part having winter. The days in the summer are longer thatn the days in winter because if the earth was straight up and down there would be the same amount of night time than day time, but the earth is tilted so since we live in the northern hemisphere we don't see the sun a lot during the winter becuase we are tilted away from the sun then.
P.S. You can try this with two spheres (one way bigger than the other) and with a flashlight, to understand abou the force of light causing us to have summer and winter (when it is winter the light is tilted, to make it colder, and when it is summer the light is straight down, to have more heat trapped inside our atmosphere.)
The earth and sun are related to the seasons because Earth’s axis is tilted and Earth’s orbit is an oval shaped orbit. That means that certain parts of the earth will be warmer than the other parts depending on the time of the year. When it is summer, the earth is closer to the sun and so it is warmer than the other seasons. Just like that, when it is winter, the earth is farther away from the sun than the other seasons so it is colder. Since the axis is tilted, when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it will be winter in the southern hemisphere and vice versa. Solstices mark the points at which the north and south poles are tilted. These points are at their closest toward or the farthest away from the sun. The vernal equinox is the beginning of spring and the autumnal equinox is the beginning of fall. This is when the sun is directly over Earth’s equator and the lengths of the day and the night are equal over most of the planet.
Wow! What a detailed answer Meryem. You provided many specific examples to help support your opinion. Nice!
The equinox is when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator.There is the vernal equinox like Luke said and there is the autmnal equinox. They usually happened one after each other.
The earth is kind of oval. When the sun is close to the earth it's pretty hot so it's summer. When it's not close to the sun it's called Winter.
Since the earth is oval and tillted it is closer to the sun at Certain times.You see when the sun is closer to the earth it is hotter and is called summer.Then when it is cold but not so cold it is fall. After that it gets really cold, that is winter.When the sun is close but not so close it is the season we call Spring.Also not every part of the earth is like this , in parts of southern asia it is different.Some places only have two seasons.Cold and hot or warm are some.Rotate is when the earth spins slow so we don't feel it. Orbiting is when the planets go around the sun.We are closer one time then the other because gradually the earth moves farther away or closer.
When the earth is round the sun can only be on one side because there is only one sun. I think the side of the earth that faces the sun is summer. Since the earth rotates the side that is close to the sun is spring because spring gets more hotter. then fall it gets colder because it moves toward the other side it gets a little chilly. Then, it gets really cold in winter because it doesn't face the sun.
I agree with Sarah. The earth spins around, and each time it spins around, the sun is on a different side, and when the sun is on the opposite side of our side, it's winter on our side and either spring or summer on the other side. Then, when we have the sun on our side, it's mostly spring or summer.
We know when it is a certain season when the weather changes or when we see the news report. There will be a difference in day's length because in summer, we count the hours 1 hour earlier. That is why when it is six o'clock in the summer, it is still bright. In the winter, it is the opposite. This is what my dad said.
Seasons aren't caused by the distance Earth is from the sun, they are caused by the spinning and tilt of the Earth's axis. The tilting of the the axis gives us the 4 seasons' Spring, Summer, Fall,and Winter. You all know that Summer is warmer than Winter. That is because when it is Summer the Earth's axis is at a more direct angle facing the sun than when it is Winter, in the Northern hemisphere, in the U.S. During the season of Winter the Earth is more at an extreme angle from the sun. That is why the days are shorter. As you can see the seasons are caused by the spinning of the Earth's axis.
Earth rotates around its axis (with the tilt of 23.5 degree) and that causes day and night. As it is rotating, it is also revolving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. Because of the tilting axis, Sun's rays have to travel longer to the part that faces away from the Sun. This part experiences Winter and the other hemisphere experiences Summer.
Very interestingly, the closer points in the orbit to the Sun allow the Sun's Rays to reach both hemispheres in equal amount. This is when the Northern and Southern hemispheres have either the Vernal equinox or Autumnal equinox.
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