Reasons for Seasons

Lab Report- Reasons for the Seasons

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

Materials:

    Flashlight

    Paper

    Shish Kabob

    Protractor

    Toothpick

    Acetate Sheet with Grid

    Plastic Foam Ball

Procedure:

       I.            Push shish kabob into foam ball at the South Pole.

     II.            Use protractor to measure 23.5 degrees tilt of the axis away from the flashlight.

  III.            Hold the stick so that the Earth is steady and 23.5 degrees.

  IV.            Use the flashlight to light the side of the Earth.

    V.            Carefully stick the toothpick straight into the model about halfway between the equator and the North Pole. Observe and record the length of the shadow.

  VI.            Turn the model once on its axis. Observe and record the length of the shadow.

VII.            Tilt toward the flashlight. Repeat previous steps.

Observations:

Winter:

·        The sunlight is more direct at the equator and below it, and the grid is stretched at the edges.

·        The shadow of the toothpick is short.

Summer:

·        The sunlight is more direct at the equator and above it.

·        The shadow of the toothpick is longer

Conclusion:

The 7 questions to be written on blog:

1.     When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the north gets the least sun and the south by the equator gets the most sun. In the summer the North gets the most concentrated sun and the south has average sun.

2.     The light is stronger at the equator and the squares are smaller and closer together at the poles, the squares are bigger and more spread out.

3.     The heat in each square is less when they become larger.

4.     The warmest place is the equator it always receives light, at the poles it is the coolest but it also depends on the season, in summer the North Pole gets lots of light.

5.     In the winter the shadow of the toothpick will be the shortest and in the summer it will be the longest.

6.     When the squares are longer the area is cooler, when they are smaller

7.      The tilt, the revolution around the sun, and the revolving causes the axis to tilt near or far from the sun.  Near is summer and far is winter.  The hemispheres are opposite seasons (ex: northern is summer southern is winter at the same time). The sun hits the earth at an angle because of the axis this creates direct and indirect areas of sunlight. The more direct the sunlight the warmer it is.