Reasons for Seasons

Guiding Question: How does the tilt of the Earth’s axis affect the light received by Earth as it revolves around the sun?

Observations:

1. When the light is pointing straight towards the sun, close to the equator, the squares on the graph are squared and stretched out, while on the poles the shape is irregular.

Summer Observations:

· In the summer, I noticed the grids are more irregular shape at the equator than at the poles.

· I also noticed that the grid was more spread out at the south pole and at the north pole, the squares are more regular.

Winter Observations:

· In the winter, I noticed that the grids are more “square” in the South Pole and at the equator they were sort of the same but not quite.

· At the North Pole you can see that the squared are more irregular shaped.

The 7 questions:

1. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere is when the top of the axis is facing away from the sun. The area that gets the most concentrated light/sun/heat is at the equator. When its summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the most sunlight is concentrated more in between the North Pole and the equator. Likewise for when it is summer in the Southern hemisphere.

2. I observed during the summer at the North Pole the squares were more regular, but in the winter I noticed that the squares were more irregularly shaped. The reason for this is because in the summer the Northern Hemisphere is pointing more towards the sun than in the winter, therefore the sun is more concentrated/direct on the northern hemisphere.

3. It was cool, because where the light/heat was distributed evenly the squares were spread out more, and in the more concentrated places, the squares are more, square J.

4. The coldest areas are the poles because the light doesn’t reach all the way over to them so they have a much lower temperature.

5. The toothpick will have the longest shadow when it is summer, it will have its shortest shadow when it is winter.

6. The heat received at the equator is greater that the heat being received at the poles because the sunlight/heat is direct at the equator but at the poles the sunlight/heat is hitting at a greater angel than at the equator. Therefore, the sunlight is more spread out at the poles than at the equator.

7. The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis away or toward the sun as it travels through its yearlong path around the sun. The Earth has a tilt of 22.5 degrees. The tilt toward the sun is maximized during Northern Hemisphere summer in late June (the "summer solstice"). At this time, the amount of sunlight reaching the Northern Hemisphere is at a maximum. The tilt away from the sun is maximized during Northern Hemisphere winter (the "winter solstice"). At this time, the amount of sunlight reaching the Northern Hemisphere is at a minimum.