Name ______Write the Can You Explain question here: Why does the angle at which the Sun’s rays hit the Earth change during the year, and how does this cause the Period ______seasons to differ in temperature and day length?
Discovery Techbook - Unit: Space Systems / Concept: Rotation, Orbits and Seasons
****NOTE: Watch ALL embedded video clips and images as you progress through each page of the concept.****
***ENGAGE- Answer all questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES where appropriate. Watch all video clips and images.
Complete the Rotation, Orbit and Seasons on the Engage page then answer the questions below.
Classify each characteristic as “Lower” or “Higher” during the summer versus the winter. (Circle one)
Summer Winter 1 Height of the sun at noon Lower or Higher Lower or Higher
2 Angle of the sun’s rays Lower or Higher Lower or Higher
3 Length of shadows at noon Lower or Higher Lower or Higher
4 Time that the sun is in the sky Lower or Higher Lower or Higher
Classify each of these motions as an example of “Rotation” or “Revolution” (Circle one) 5 Earth makes one turn on its axis every 24 hours Rotation or Revolution
6 Earth travels around the Sun in a nearly circular Rotation or Revolution orbit 7 The moon makes one journey around Earth every Rotation or Revolution four weeks 8 A figure skater performs a trick by spinning Rotation or Revolution quickly in place 9 A racecar drives repeatedly around a closed track. Rotation or Revolution
***EXPLORE p1- Answer all questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES where appropriate. Watch all video clips and images. How Does Earth Move in Space?
10. Read the sentences below. Which sentence(s) state incorrect information? Underline the whole sentence that is incorrect. If selecting more than one sentence, each sentence must be selected separately.
The planet Earth rotates (REVOLVES) around the sun in an orbit. One full orbit is the equivalent of one solar day (YEAR). While the planet Earth orbits, it also rotates on its axis.
Rotation 11. Draw arrows and label the revolution and rotation of the planet around the Sun in the diagram on the left.
Revolution
12. When Earth has completed one rotation on its axis, we call it a day.
13. What is a sidereal day? It takes 23 hours 56 minutes for Earth to rotate once on its axis
14. What is a solar day? Due to Earth’s orbit around the sun, it takes 24 hours to face the sun in the same spot again.
15. When Earth completes one revolution around the Sun, we call it a year.
16. Why do we have a leap year? It takes 365 days and 6 hours to revolve around the sun. Every 4 years we have to add an extra day to balance the extra 24 hours (6 x 4)
17. Why do day and night occur? As Earth rotates on its axis, it is day if Earth is facing the Sun and night if Earth is facing away from the sun.
***EXPLORE p2- Answer all questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES where appropriate. Watch all video clips and images Why Does Earth Have Seasons?
18. Seasons result from the tilt of Earth’s axis. This tilt is at an angle of 23.5 degrees.
19. The North Pole is tilted toward the sun between mid-March and mid-September, but away from the sun during the other half of the year. This change causes changes in the number of daylight hours in each 24-hour period.
20. Parts of Earth that are tilted toward the sun receive more direct sunlight than parts tilted away from the sun.
21. When a hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it experiences summer, with longer days and generally warmer weather. When a hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it experiences winter, with shorter days and generally cooler weather. (Circle where the sun is more direct in both pictures.)
22. 23.
24. What is the weather like at the equator? It is about the same year round.
25. Why? The equator doesn’t experience the tilt and the days and nights are about the same length every day (12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime). What are special about these dates?
26. Summer Solstice: June 21
27. Longest day, shortest night
28. Winter Solstice: Dec 21
29. Longest night, shortest day
30. Equinox: March 21 and Sep 22
31. Equal day and equal night.
Do the activity “To Every Season” at the bottom of page 2 “Explore” in the Science Techbook.
32. Use your data from the simulation “To Every Season” to create a bar graph that represents the hours of sunlight received by Caribou, Maine. Round your answers to the nearest hour.
***EXPLORE p3- Answer all questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES where appropriate. Watch all video clips and images. Why Do Seasons Differ around the World?
33. Seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere are opposite of each other because one side is facing towards (towards/away) the Sun with more direct sunlight and longer (longer/shorter) days and one side is facing away (towards/away) from the Sun with less direct sunlight and shorter (longer/shorter) days due to the tilt of Earth’s axis.
34. Seasons are more extreme at the poles (poles/equator) as they can experience 24 hours of daylight or 24 hours of darkness. Seasons at the equator (poles/equator) tend to be the same year round. They experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. 35. In the diagram, what season is it in the southern hemisphere? How do you know? Sample response: It is winter in the southern hemisphere. I know this because Earth’s axis is tilted so that the southern hemisphere receives less sunlight than the northern.
36. In the diagram, what location on Earth is receiving the most hours of sunlight? Why? Sample response: The northern polar
region is receiving the most hours of sunlight. This is because Earth is tilted so that as it rotates, the northern-most region is always in the sunlight.