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Earth's Motion and Seasons Explained

Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit once every year due to the Sun's gravitational pull. Earth also rotates on its tilted axis once every day, causing the appearance of the Sun rising and setting. The amount of sunlight that different parts of Earth receive throughout the year causes the seasons to change in a cycle. The tilt of Earth's axis and its position in its orbit during the solstices and equinoxes determine whether it is summer, winter, spring, or fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

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179 views7 pages

Earth's Motion and Seasons Explained

Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit once every year due to the Sun's gravitational pull. Earth also rotates on its tilted axis once every day, causing the appearance of the Sun rising and setting. The amount of sunlight that different parts of Earth receive throughout the year causes the seasons to change in a cycle. The tilt of Earth's axis and its position in its orbit during the solstices and equinoxes determine whether it is summer, winter, spring, or fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Earth’s Motion

Earth and the Sun


• Earth is always in motion
• The Sun
• The Sun’s diameter is more than 100 times greater than Earth’s diameter.
• In the Sun, atoms combine during nuclear fusion, producing huge amounts of energy.
• Some of the Sun’s energy reaches Earth as thermal energy and light.
• Earth’s Orbit
• Revolution is the movement of one object around another object.
• The path a revolving object follows is its orbit.
• It takes approximately one year for Earth to make one revolution around the Sun.
Earth and the Sun (continued)
• The Sun’s Gravitational Pull
• Earth moves around the Sun because of the pull of gravity between Earth and the Sun.
• The force of gravity between two objects depends on the gravitational pull of the objects and
how far apart they are.
• Earth’s Rotation
• The rotation of an object is its spinning motion.
• The line around which an object rotates is the rotation axis.
• Looking at Earth from above the north Pole, Earth rotates in a counterclockwise direction
from west to east.
• Earth’s rotation makes the Sun appear to rise in the east.
• It takes one day for Earth to complete one rotation.
• Earth’s rotation axis is always tilted in the same direction.
Temperature and Latitude
• The Sun shines on the part of Earth that faces the sun.
• Energy Received by a Tilted Surface
• When light shines on a tilted surface, the light is more spread out than it would be on a
surface that is not tilted.
• The Tilt of Earth’s Curved Surface
• Because of the tilt of Earth’s axis, Earth’s surface becomes more tilted as you move away
from the equator.
• As a result of this tilt, regions of Earth near the poles receive less energy than regions near the
equator.
Seasons
• Earth’s seasons change in a yearly cycle because of the tilt of its rotation axis and Earth’s motion around
the Sun.
• Spring and Summer in the Northern Hemisphere
• The end of Earth’s rotation axis that is tilted toward the Sun receives more energy from the Sun.
• The part of Earth tilted toward the Sun experiences seasons of spring and summer. If the northern
end of Earth’s axis leans toward the Sun, it is spring or summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Fall and Winter in the Northern Hemisphere
• The part of Earth tilted away from the Sun experiences seasons of fall and winter. If the southern
end of Earth’s axis leans toward the Sun, it is fall or winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
• During a solstice, Earth’s rotation axis is the most toward
or away from the Sun.
• Solstices occur four days each year.
• The June solstice is the first day of summer in the
Solstices, northern hemisphere.
• On the December solstice, the north end of Earth’s
Equinoxes, rotation axis leans the most away from the Sun.
• During its revolution, Earth’s axis does not lean toward or
and the away from the Sun during an equinox.
• The September equinox marks the first day of spring
Seasonal in the southern hemisphere.
• The March equinox marks the first day of spring in
the northern hemisphere.
Cycle • The Sun’s apparent path through the sky in the northern
hemisphere is highest near the June solstice and lowest
near the December solstice.

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