The change of seasons is because the Earth revolves around the Sun

Since ancient times, people have been tormented by questions about the universe. How and by whom was the Earth created, what are the stars, the Sun and the Moon? How is the season changing? Nikolai Copernicus was the first to answer many of these questions. He suggested that the change of seasons occurs for one revolution of the Earth around the Sun. But people doubted for a long time.

Well-known facts

First, there is a change of day and night. All this is due to the fact that our planet turns around its axis. As a result, it turns out that constantly half of it is in the shade, and there, respectively, the night. The turnaround time is twenty-three hours fifty-six minutes and four seconds.

Secondly, our planet, as Copernicus has successfully assumed, revolves around the Sun. And the time it takes to make a circle is 365.24 days. This number is usually called one star year. As we see, it is slightly different from the calendar one, about one quarter of a day. Every four years these non-integer numbers are added and one "extra" day is obtained. The last one is added to the fourth one, forming a leap year. And in it, as we know, three hundred and sixty-six days.

Cause

According to the overwhelming majority of modern scientists, the change of seasons occurs because The earth moves around the Sun. But also not only. The axis around which our planet turns during a change of day is inclined to the plane of its motion around the star at an angle of 66 degrees 33 minutes and 22 seconds. And the direction remains unchanged regardless of the place in orbit.

Conduct an experiment

In order to be easier to understand, imagine that this axis is material - like a globe. If you move the latter around the light source, the part that is not facing the lamp will be in the dark. It is clear that the Earth, like the globe, also rotates around the axis, and in a day it will all be illuminated. But pay attention to the position of the North and South Poles. At one end of the orbit, the upper part of the globe is inclined toward the star, and the lower part from it. And even rotating our improvised Earth, we will see that its lowest part in the extreme point of the orbit is completely in the shade. The boundary of the latter was called the Southern Arctic Circle.

Place our globe on the opposite point of the orbit. Now, on the contrary, its lower part is well illuminated by the "Sun", and the upper one - in the shade. This is the Arctic Circle. And the extreme points of the orbit are the days of the winter and summer solstice. The change of seasons is because the temperature of the planet directly depends on how much of this or that part of it receives from the star. Solar energy is practically not retained by the atmosphere. It warms the surface of the Earth, and the latter already transfers heat to the air. Therefore, in those parts of the world that receive the least amount of light, it is usually very cold. For example, at the South Pole and North.

Uneven surface of the Earth

But in fact they too some, let and not so long time, are shined by the sun. Why is there always frost? The thing is that sunlight, and hence its energy, are unequally absorbed by different surfaces. And as you know, the Earth is not homogeneous. Most of it is occupied by the World Ocean. It heats up more slowly than land and also slowly gives heat to the atmosphere. The north and south poles are covered with snow and ice, and the light from them reflects almost like a mirror. And only a small part of it goes into heat. And therefore for that short time, while the Arctic summer lasts, all the ice usually does not have time to melt. Almost all of Antarctica is covered with snow.

Meanwhile, the middle of our planet, where the equator passes, receives solar energy very evenly throughout the year. And because the temperature here is always high, and the change of the season is mainly formal. And an inhabitant of the middle zone of Russia, hitting the equatorial Africa, might think that there is always summer there. The farther from the equator, the clearer the change of seasons occurs, because light, falling to the surface at an angle, is distributed more unevenly. And probably, it is most obvious in the temperate climatic zone. In these latitudes the summer is usually hot, and the winter is snowy and cold. For example, as in the European territory of Russia. We are also "unlucky" in that, unlike Europeans, we are not warmed by warm sea currents, with the exception of the Far Eastern "outskirts."

Other reasons

There is an opinion that the axis (or not only it) is tilted, and the plane of the Earth's orbit to the Sun's equator. The effect should be the same or even stronger.

It is also assumed that the seasons change occurs because the distance to the star is not always the same. The thing is that the Earth rotates not in a circle, but in an ellipse. And the closest point to the Sun is at a distance of 147,000,000 km, and the farthest point is about 152,000,000. Still, five million kilometers is quite a lot!

They also say that the movement of the Earth is also influenced by our natural satellite. The moon is so large that it is comparable in size to our planet. This is the only such case in the solar system. It is alleged that together with it the Earth is drawn also around the common center of mass - for twenty-seven days and eight hours.

As can be seen from all of the above, the change of seasons is conditioned, like practically everything on our planet, by the position relative to the Sun.