SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy Lesson 1 :: Seasons & Solstices

carpediem · 05-12-2014, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Seeing that there were no other hands raised, Airey adjusted his tie that had gone a bit collywobbles during his leaping - which had taken great skill, by the way, considering how wobbly they were. He had practiced. Seriously. He had.

Heading back to his desk, Airey tapped the lamp with his wand to turn it on and flooded the room with a bright but welcoming light. He then picked up the quaffle and held it out...and then got awkward. "I must appologize for use of this. I had not predicted that its presence would make so many of you uncomfortable." Disclaimer. Sorry. He thought that something familiar and something students were passionate about would be welcoming. "Image that this quaffle here is the Earth and that this black line here is the equator. Our lamp over here shall represent the Sun." He then enchanted the quaffle to float in the air and guided it with a few fluid wand movements. "Now, imagine an line going right through the quaffle, from top to bottom. This imaginary line is called the axis and this is what the Earth spins on," he continued as he charmed the quaffle to spin slowly around in place.

"Now, the Earth's axis does not stand up perfectly straight like it is now, but rather at a 23 and a half degree tilt and the Earth remains at this tile for the entire year in space. That's all 365 and ¼ days," he explained as he charmed the quaffle's position to reflect this. "Now, the amount of light hitting the quaffle has not lessened any, but rather the dispensation of it has. The bit that is tilted towards the Sun is receiving more of the light, so this tilt towards the Sun is what causes summer. The lower part of the quaffle, as you can see, is not receiving the light directly, but at an angle, so this tilt away from the Sun is what causes winter."

With another wave of his wand, he sent the Earth!quaffle on its way to orbit the lamp.

"SUNRIIIIIIISE SUNSET SUNRIIIIIISE SUNSET...THIS IS KIND OF WEEEEEEEEEIRD ... IT IS A DIFFERENT SEEEEEEEEEASOOOOOOON ... IN THE EARTH’S OTHER HEMISPHERE."

Alright, that didn't flow as smoothly off the tongue. NO MATTER!

"Now, the answer to this question has already been alluded to, but just humor me for a moment. We associate the summer with being hot and winter with being cold. Looking again at our crude example of the Earth orbiting the Sun, can anyone tell me why this happens? Why does the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis matter to our weather? Please try to keep your answers as concise as possible, but you are certainly allowed more than 5 words this time around."

This teacher was certainly not the calmest teacher at Hogwarts. Professor Flamsteed had jumped onto a student's desk for goodness sakes! Although the amazing thing to her was the fact that he had stayed on and not fallen. Seriously, the small girl was clumsy. On a broom or off. How people managed to do stunts and tricks like jumping onto a wobbly desk was beyond her. If she would've tried that --and she totally would've if she wasn't surrounded by people and in class-- the freckled faced girl would've fallen off of the desk sideways and faceplanted onto the floor. So balance was something she obviously had to work on.

Copying the diagram the best the twelve year old could while still listening and being prompt and attentive was no easy task. It wasn't difficult, but not easy. Until they came to the question portion of this whole explanation. Professor say what? She had no idea. Well, some idea, but it had to do with the axis of the earth. And that was a good a guess as any, so the redhead was going with it. Feeling like a decisive contestant on a game show, the Ravenclaw girl tucked a strand of shoulder length hair behind her ear and tried to resist the urge to play with her robe.

"If the earth wasn't tilted, then there would just be direct sunlight on one place at a time. Like say the earth wasn't tiled and it was one of out Winter months or something." Didn't he say that it was actually closer to the sun in the winter? Because that's what the blue eyed girl got out of this. Hopefully that was somewhat right.

"And if the sun was hotter in the winter --because she thinks that what you said-- than it would just be shining directly on us. It would be too hot for anyone to live anywhere for long periods of time." Was that answer right? Because it SOUNDED right, and Caelen was going with it.

05-12-2014, 08:00 PM	#175 (permalink)
carpediem Puffskein Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: any place with food Posts: 1,172 Hogwarts RPG Name: Alessandra (Alli) Whitt First Year	Tricksy Hobbitses Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie Seeing that there were no other hands raised, Airey adjusted his tie that had gone a bit collywobbles during his leaping - which had taken great skill, by the way, considering how wobbly they were. He had practiced. Seriously. He had. Heading back to his desk, Airey tapped the lamp with his wand to turn it on and flooded the room with a bright but welcoming light. He then picked up the quaffle and held it out...and then got awkward. "I must appologize for use of this. I had not predicted that its presence would make so many of you uncomfortable." Disclaimer. Sorry. He thought that something familiar and something students were passionate about would be welcoming. "Image that this quaffle here is the Earth and that this black line here is the equator. Our lamp over here shall represent the Sun." He then enchanted the quaffle to float in the air and guided it with a few fluid wand movements. "Now, imagine an line going right through the quaffle, from top to bottom. This imaginary line is called the axis and this is what the Earth spins on," he continued as he charmed the quaffle to spin slowly around in place. "Now, the Earth's axis does not stand up perfectly straight like it is now, but rather at a 23 and a half degree tilt and the Earth remains at this tile for the entire year in space. That's all 365 and ¼ days," he explained as he charmed the quaffle's position to reflect this. "Now, the amount of light hitting the quaffle has not lessened any, but rather the dispensation of it has. The bit that is tilted towards the Sun is receiving more of the light, so this tilt towards the Sun is what causes summer. The lower part of the quaffle, as you can see, is not receiving the light directly, but at an angle, so this tilt away from the Sun is what causes winter." With another wave of his wand, he sent the Earth!quaffle on its way to orbit the lamp. "SUNRIIIIIIISE SUNSET SUNRIIIIIISE SUNSET...THIS IS KIND OF WEEEEEEEEEIRD ... IT IS A DIFFERENT SEEEEEEEEEASOOOOOOON ... IN THE EARTH’S OTHER HEMISPHERE." Alright, that didn't flow as smoothly off the tongue. NO MATTER! "Now, the answer to this question has already been alluded to, but just humor me for a moment. We associate the summer with being hot and winter with being cold. Looking again at our crude example of the Earth orbiting the Sun, can anyone tell me why this happens? Why does the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis matter to our weather? Please try to keep your answers as concise as possible, but you are certainly allowed more than 5 words this time around." This teacher was certainly not the calmest teacher at Hogwarts. Professor Flamsteed had jumped onto a student's desk for goodness sakes! Although the amazing thing to her was the fact that he had stayed on and not fallen. Seriously, the small girl was clumsy. On a broom or off. How people managed to do stunts and tricks like jumping onto a wobbly desk was beyond her. If she would've tried that --and she totally would've if she wasn't surrounded by people and in class-- the freckled faced girl would've fallen off of the desk sideways and faceplanted onto the floor. So balance was something she obviously had to work on. Copying the diagram the best the twelve year old could while still listening and being prompt and attentive was no easy task. It wasn't difficult, but not easy. Until they came to the question portion of this whole explanation. Professor say what? She had no idea. Well, some idea, but it had to do with the axis of the earth. And that was a good a guess as any, so the redhead was going with it. Feeling like a decisive contestant on a game show, the Ravenclaw girl tucked a strand of shoulder length hair behind her ear and tried to resist the urge to play with her robe. "If the earth wasn't tilted, then there would just be direct sunlight on one place at a time. Like say the earth wasn't tiled and it was one of out Winter months or something." Didn't he say that it was actually closer to the sun in the winter? Because that's what the blue eyed girl got out of this. Hopefully that was somewhat right. "And if the sun was hotter in the winter --because she thinks that what you said-- than it would just be shining directly on us. It would be too hot for anyone to live anywhere for long periods of time." Was that answer right? Because it SOUNDED right, and Caelen was going with it. __________________ People are drawn to you because of your peaceful and nurturing persona. While quite softspoken, you put the needs of others above your own needs and show a real empathy for all living things. Your warm heart could keep a blizzard away.