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How Does a Planet’s Tilt Affect its Seasons?

1. Is the Earth’s axis straight up and down? __no___

a. With respect to the Sun, what is Earth’s axis tilted at? __23.5°_

b. Draw Earth’s axis:

2. Draw a diagram explaining your understanding of how Earth’s position relative to the sun causes the seasons.

|We did this in class ( |

3. Draw a diagram showing the difference in direct sunlight and indirect sunlight.

|Direct Sunlight |Indirect Sunlight |

| | |

|A beam of light from the Sun is concentrated on a small area of Earth.|A beam of light from the Sun is being spread out over a bigger area |

|All the warmth from the beam of sunlight is concentrated on a small |because it is hitting Earth at an angle. The beam of light is being |

|area and it is very warm. |spread out over a larger area so it is not as warm. |

| | |

|For example, a plate of 10 cupcakes is being shared with 10 people. |For example, a plate of 10 cupcakes is being shared with 100 people. |

|Each person gets 1 cupcake. This example will make more sense when you|Each person gets 1/10 of a cupcake. Even though it’s the same amount |

|read the indirect sunlight example. |of cupcakes, they are spread out over more people. Each person gets |

| |less. |

a. Which regions experience a greater variance in direct and indirect sunlight? (Northern regions, Southern regions, regions along the equator)

Northern and Southern regions experience the greatest variance in direct and indirect sunlight. That is why Northern regions and Southern regions experience 4 distinct seasons.

b. Which regions experience fairly constant sunlight? (Northern regions, Southern regions, regions along the equator)

Regions along the equator experience fairly constant sunlight. That is why regions along the equator only experience two distinct seasons.

4. In Canada, we experience four (4) distinct seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). In Papua New Guinea, it seems there are two (2) seasons (Wet and Dry). Can you explain this?

Papa New Guinea is near the equator. Papa New Guinea experiences a constant amount of sunlight throughout the year. Papa New Guinea’s temperature does NOT vary much throughout the year.

5. What do you think would happen if Earth’s axis did not tilt? Would Earth still experience the seasons? Draw a diagram to help you explain.

If Earth’s axis was not tilted, places would not experience the seasons. All places on Earth would receive constant daylight. Days would not get shorter or longer.

6. Uranus’ axis tilts at 97.77°. How do you think this affects the seasons on Uranus?

[pic]

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Earth

Uranus’ axis is tilted at 97.77° so Uranus almost spins on its side. The North and South poles of Uranus are pointed either directly towards the Sun or directly away from the Sun. This means that places near the North pole of Uranus are in complete darkness (Winter) for half of the orbit. The other 7 planets spin like tops around the Sun but Uranus spins like a marble.

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