does not compute

May 09, 2009 18:44

ok, so trying not to feel like a total failure as a teacher.  just finished grading the astronomy test for my students.  seasons, phases of the moon, etc ( Read more... )

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chickwithmonkey May 10 2009, 02:30:33 UTC
Wait, what causes seasons if it isn't the earth tilting towards the sun? I need to take astronomy!

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leah99 May 10 2009, 02:42:16 UTC
well... it is the tilting actually but it's the "closer" part that's wrong. The earth only changes its distance by thousands of miles to the sun but it takes millions of miles to actually have any effect.

tilting the earth moves areas of the surface of the earth into and out of 'direct sunlight' Essentially the sunlight gets more concentrated during the summer months. (there's also the fact that the sun is higher in the sky and also out longer so more concentrated sunlight plus longer exposure to sun gives more heat energy)

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chickwithmonkey May 10 2009, 14:37:18 UTC
Oh good, that's what I thought. I thought I'd missed something huge, astronomicaly speaking.

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Nonsense anonymous May 16 2009, 12:46:23 UTC
The sun revolves around the Earth and it's orbit is tilted to the plane of the Earth's equator. So it rises higher in the North during the summer of the northern hemisphere and lower during the Winter. Einstein proved that all motion in the universe is perceived relative to us. So anyone on Earth perceives that the Earth is motionless at the center of the universe.

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