Frances S. Tucker Elementary School Mrs. Locke Earth’s Seasons Frances S. Tucker Elementary School Mrs. Locke

Define Season Seasons means: change in temperature Winter cold to summer heat and back

Fun Facts Is Earth’s orbit circular? How do you know? No; if it were circular, Earth would be the same distance from the sun all the time.

Seasonal Change Do all areas experience feelings of seasonal change? Equilateral Areas? Tropical Areas?

Tropics of Cancer Tropics of Capricorn

Wettest Spot on Earth Some tropical areas have wet and dry seasons. In other tropical areas, there is only one season. The Amazon River is an example. Year round hot, wet weather. The intense rainfall supports the world’s most extensive rain forest.

Amazon River

Driest Spot on Earth 4/100 inch of precipitation each year

Are you dizzy yet? You are not sitting still. You are traveling through the space at almost 67,000 miles per hour. You are also flying around the solar system.

Rotation – spinning of Earth on its axis; once every 24 hours.

Axis – an imaginary line that goes through the North and South Pole.

Revolution – the movement of one object around another object; once every 365 days (1 year).

Moon rotates around the Earth; once every 29 days.

Shadows Shadows help us see Earth’s rotation. The sun is not really moving, we are! (no real sunset or sunrise?)

Long Shadows In the morning the sun seems low in the sky. Objects cast long shadows.

Short Shadows As the Earth rotates, the sun seems to move higher in the sky. Shadows get shorter.

No Shadow At noon, the sun is overhead. Objects cast almost no shadow. Then it starts all over again. What is rotation? The spinning of an object on its axis.

Prediction Time It is going to be a hot day. You want to play outside, but you also want to be in the shade. Predict which time of day a tall tree will give the most shade – noon or 3:30 pm. Explain your prediction. 3:30 pm; because the tree’s shadow will be longer.

Prediction Time You want to take pictures at a time of day when there won’t be shadows. Predict the best time to take the photos. Explain. Noon; because shadows are shortest or nonexistent then.

Earth’s Seasons http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/earth/seasons/EarthSeasons.asp

Why are there seasons? Earth’s axis is tilted. Different parts of Earth’s surface get different amounts of sunlight at different times of the year. This causes seasons.

Direction Axis Points (Northern Hemisphere) Four Seasons Season Direction Axis Points (Northern Hemisphere) Temperature Winter Away from the sun Cold Spring Neither toward nor away from the sun Warmer than winter but colder than summer Summer Toward the sun Hot Fall

Night and Day It’s 4:00 pm. Your family decides to call a friend in Asia. When your dad makes the call, he wakes up your Asian friend. It’s the middle of the night there.

Night and Day As you move from place to place on Earth, time changes. When you are eating dinner, people on the other side of the world might be having breakfast.

US Time Zones

Answer the following questions using your notes. 1. What is a revolution? When it is winter in the northern half of Earth, what season is it in the southern half? How would day and night be different if Earth did not rotate? The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes: a. rotation, b. day and night, c. seasons, d. sunlight