Reasons for Seasons - Essay Example

Running Head: Seasons: Causes and Effects. The earth experiences different seasons which are characterized with different climatic conditions throughout the year. Different parts of the earth will always experience different seasons at the same time: for instance when it is summer in the northern hemisphere then it is winter in the southern hemisphere. The changes in seasons come about as a result of the amount of light from the sun hitting the surface of earth since the earth is constantly revolving around the sun.

The question this paper seeks to answer therefore is what actually accounts for the different seasons experienced on earth. The misconception by many people has always been that differences in seasons come about as a result of differences in the earth’s distance relative to the sun. The belief is that at certain times the distance between the earth and sun is wide and sometimes the two bodies are closer to one another. This seems to make sense since the nearer the sun the warmer it gets and the far from the sun the icy it gets.

The truth is that the earth revolves around the sun in a circle that is almost perfect and hence there are no significance changes in terms of how far the earth is relative to the sun. Also North America experiences summer at the time when the South is experiencing winter. While spinning on the axis to yield days and nights, the earth also revolves in a circular orbit around the sun which takes 364 ¼ days or one year. The spin axis of the earth tilts with respect to the plane of its orbit and this is responsible for seasons.

When the axis of the earth is pointed directly towards the sun then that particular hemisphere experiences summer and winter comes about when the axis is pointed away from the sun. The hemisphere tilting in the sun’s direction gets warmer as sunlight will travel directly to the surface of the earth and less of it scatters to the atmosphere. The hemisphere tilting in the direction of the sun also receives longer days as compared to nights hence during summer there are longer days than the winter days.

All the other planets experience seasons but they markedly differ from what is traditionally seen on earth i.e., summer, spring, winter and fall. This is because the other planets have orbits which are more elliptical. Mercury for instance witnesses the most peculiar conditions; it makes three rotations in every two years and the eccentricity of its orbits has odd effects. Mars is the planet with orbit eccentricity that is highest and has a greater axial tilt than earth’s hence great seasonal variations.

Venus and Jupiter have axial tilts of 30 against 23.50of the earth, Saturn-26.750, Uranus-800and Neptune-28.50 hence the various in their seasons from what is experience on earth. Apogee refers to the time when the moon is farthest in distance from earth while perigee is when moon is closest to earth. The moon appears smaller during apogee and larger during perigee. at apogee, the moon has little gravitational pull hence there are low tides or low variations in tidal levels and at perigee its gravitational pull is higher hence the tides are higher or the variations between the highest and lowest tide are greater.

In conclusion therefore seasons are as a result of two reasons which are a planet’s axial tilt and the orbit in which it revolves about the sun. When the northern hemisphere experiences summer the winter is experienced in the south. The earth’s orbit is almost circular hence various in climate are lesser as compared to other planets which have orbits that are much elliptical. References.1. Khavrus, V.; Shelevytsky, I. (2012). Geometry and the Physics of Seasons". Physics Education 47 (6): 680. Doi:10.1088/0031-9120/47/6/680