How does the tilt effect the earth?
Hypothesis: I think it effect the way the sun hits earth, I believe that it prevents the earth being hit with sun filling half of the earth
During this whole lab I had made 3 tests withe the earth and the flashlight as my sun. I used grid squares as on test, I tested shadows and i tested how the earths tilt on its axis makes a difference to earths seasons.
When we were testing the suns rays on the earth using the flashlight and the grid squares i cam to a few observations:
- In summer the grid squares are keeping their square shape on the equator, there for the equator never has winters because most of the suns heat is directed to the equator
- In summer the grid squares were in rectangular shape because they were spread out in the north pole that’s why the north pole has approximately 4 hours of night while the south pole is all dark and receives almost no sun light
- In winter the grid squares were in rectangular shape because they were spread out in the south pole that’s why the south pole has approximately 4 hours of night while the south pole is all dark and receives almost no sun light
From these few observations i was able to analyze that in:
Summer = north pole more light
= They don’t receive equal amount of light because the earth is on a tilt
· Winter= south pole more light
(This is the anylaztion made from the observations while using the Grid Squares)
When I stuck the tooth pick into the sttrafoam earth and i shine the flashlight on it:
I was able to see a shadow from the tooth picks show on the earth
· In summer our shadows are larger because there is more direct light on the object
WOn the other hand during winter the shadows of objects are smaller because there is less direct on the object
For example, this picture is taken during summer in the Sahara desert: See how the camels shadows are extremely large. This is because there is so much direct light on them from the sun. The more direct light the larger the shadow
http://www.moillusions.com/wp-content/uploads/photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5639/2020/400/camels.jpg
· One thing that i found very interesting about earths tilt is
If the earth was not on a tilt we would only have dry season and wet seasons. This is becasue if it didnt have its tilt there would be 12 hours of hot suns rays pointing at the earth except for the poles, (the equator is the place where the suns rays would be hitting the most) therefore giving us only dry and wet seasons, acknowledging that the tilt of earths axis is the main reason for our seasons.
Answer 7 questions chapter 1 p J 15 in th ebook of astronomy, prentice hall science explorer
1: When the northern hemisphere is facing the sun it is summer in the northern hemisphere but when it is facing away from the sun it is winter.
2. In summer the grid squares are keeping their square shape on the equator, there for the equator never has winters because most of the suns heat is directed to the equator. Also in summer the grid squares were in rectangular shape because they were spread out in the north pole that’s why the north pole has approximately 4 hours of night while the south pole is all dark and receives almost no sun light.
3. From what i noticed the more square shaped the square/ rectangle was the more bright it looked. So i can tell that the more rectangular shaped the rectangle was the less heat/light it received from the sun.
4. The equator is always the warmest because it receives the most direct sunlight, and this is because since the earth is on a tilt and the sun shows straight at the middle of the earth which just happens to be the equator. The poles are the places that receive the least sun light, during summer the sun is shining a very little bit on the north pole and and not at all on the south pole and the exact opposite during winter.
5. In summer our shadows are larger because there is more direct light on the object
WOn the other hand during winter the shadows of objects are smaller because there is less direct on the object.
6 6. If the suns rays are straight/ directly pointing at the grid then there is more heat, which is obviously stating that there is more light. But if the suns rays are at an angle the heat.light is not direct it is more spread out because it has to cover more space which means that there is less heat/light.
7. All of my observations:
· In summer our shadows are larger because there is more direct light on the object
· In summer the grid squares are keeping their square shape on the equator, there for the equator never has winters because most of the suns heat is directed to the equator
· In summer the grid squares were in rectangular shape because they were spread out in the north pole that’s why the north pole has approximately 4 hours of night while the south pole is all dark and receives almost no sun light
· Summer = north pole more light
= They don’t receive equal amount of light because the earth is on a tilt
· Winter= south pole more light
· If the earth was not on a tilt we would only have dry season and wet seasons
I From my observations i am not able to know why seasons happen. But from my internet research and reading chapters in my book i know that seasons are caused by earths axis's tilt. The tilt is what points a hemisphere away from the sun allowing the other hemisphere to have summer.
This movie helped me understand the concept much better
S
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