| Fwooper
Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: the void
Posts: 21,838
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Amelia Yarborough
Hufflepuff Seventh Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Emerald Peridot "Dot" Ainsley
Gryffindor Seventh Year
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|  HOLISTIC ACTRESS {X O} EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED
SPOILER!!: pixie Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie  Airey couldn't help himself and smirked at the brief pause before hands went up. Yes, it was a challenge to concise one's answers down to such few words, but it was also a stellar mental exercise to get students really looking at the facts, the big picture, and pushing their understanding. He liked seeing the little wheels in their heads spinning.
Heh.
Although it looked as though the challenge may have short circuited Miss Newell's brain. Oops.
Offering her an encouraging smile, because he was preeeeeeeetty sure he understood what she was trying to say, he tapped her desk twice with his knuckles. "I believe you are on the right track, Miss Newell."
Hopefully the coming explanation would confirm this.
The astronomer's initial reaction was to squint, say no, and then move on to the next raised hand, but he was in an especially giddy mood this evening so he found the prefect's response...amusing and decided to throw some dry humor right back at her.
"Of course," he chuckled. "The Sun and Earth converse with one another on a daily basis to ensure that you get the most use out of what surely must be an extensive wardrobe. Congratulations, Miss Robertser, you have discovered the answer to the universe."
Wink.
More chuckling. Definitely more chuckling. At least someone had made the connection between the chairs and his question. It HAD been the entire point, and a rather inspired one if he said so himself.
"In laymen's terms, I suppose that is one way to describe it," he mused before moving on to the next raised hand.
Ignoooooooooooring the macking bit of the boy's answer, he instead focused on the latter part and.................got confused and for whatever reason suddenly imagined the entire population of the world putting on sunglasses when they wanted it to be winter. Sunglasses apparently made people look cool, you know?
"Not....exactly..." he blinked at the Gryffindor before moving on. Yeah, not sure how to field that one.
This response, well, he knew how to field this one. Or he hoped he did because Miss Brown's witty humor had him in a fit of manly giggles. "That was a stellar one, Miss Brown," he salutes. "You may be giving Mr. Barrington a run for his galleon with your wit."
"And let us hope they stay that way," he nodded. That was an entirely different field of study, humanity's impact on the environment, and one that was a rather unpleasant one.
Airey chuckled. "If only the universe were so accommodating."
Giving small nods to those choosing to remain silent, he couldn't help but wonder just what Mr. Barrington was writing down on his parchment and took a small peek. "Planet," he snort!chuckled before giving the prefect two firm pats on the shoulder. That WAS a good one. The fact that Miss Konstantinova remained quiet was a little unsettling. Hopefully she wasn't too upset about the small point loss. The astronomer just really valued his personal space...
An eyebrow raise toward Mr. Mordaunt happened. Keeping TWO eyes on you, good sir. And thankfully Miss Cooper had dropped the macking subject. Yes. Thank you.
Go ask a prefect after class please. Yes.
Ah yes, he had been expecting this answer to come up and while not entirely incorrect, because it obviously was a piece of the puzzle, it just wasn't THE piece. "You are not wrong in saying that the Earth's orbit around the Sun plays a role in the creation of the seasons, for without its slightly elliptical orbit it would always be the same season on either hemisphere, there is something else that plays a bigger role," he began, making sure to make eye contact with each student who had offered up an answer. "Likewise, it is a common misconception that the Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and that is why it is hotter and the opposite is true for winter. This, however, is a very incorrect assumption. Ironically enough, in the Northern Hemisphere we experience winter when Earth is closest to the Sun and summer when it is farthest away."
How was THAT for some interesting Astronomy factoids to owl home about?!
"The Earth's orbit plays a greater role in the length of each season," he continued as he gave his wand a flick towards the board to make a diagram appear.
Even MORE interesting factoids to owl home about, yeah? YEAH!
"The spin of Earth on it's axis is also important, but for a very different reason," he nodded. "In fact, this spin creates weather, sunrises, sunsets, and a plethora of other important things to life on Earth. While also being a piece to the greater puzzle that is the seasons." But just not THE piece.
And speaking of sunrises and sunsets....
"SUNRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE SUNSET," he sang as he leaped up onto Mr. Reham's desk first before making his way along Mr. Strand's desk, and then Mr. Kim's. "SUNRIIIIIIIIIISE SUNSET!" Stilling singing and leaping his way to Mr. Adair, Miss Carrington, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Mordaunt's desks. "SWIFTLY FLOW THE YEEEEEEEEEEEEEARS!" On to Miss Wayne, Miss Guidry, Miss Colbert, and Miss Kittredge's desks now. "ONE SEASON FOLLOWING ANOOOOOOOOOOOOTHEEEEEEEEER!" Now slowly leaping his way across Miss Jensen, Mr. Hazelwood, and Miss Channing-Sands' desks. "BECAUSE OF PLANETS....ON A TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILT!" he concluded as he stood triumphantly on Miss Bayless' desk, both arms up in the like actors tended to do at the end of a big musical number in the theater.
Lowering his arms, but still very much standing on the Gryffindor's desk, he looked to the students who had just spoke and smirked. "Five words or less," he replied, tapping his nose with his index finger.
Although he did find the story about fairies Miss Petersfield told to be amusing and definitely gave him an idea for a homework assignment. Kudos to you, young lady!
And he should get down now yes? Yes.
10 point landing to the professor! WOOT!
Could...but wouldn't. At least not in the classroom. So he gave Mr. Kyroh a small nod before hearing his answer.
"VERY interesting that you bring that story up," he applauded. Three claps, by the way. "Before the ancients were able to rely on more scientific methods to explain the natural world, they created myths to explain how world and humankind assumed their present form. It wasn't until around 480 BCE that a Greek philosopher by the name of Oenopides became the first to calculate the degree of the Earth's tilt."
Airey grinned at Mr. Branxton. "That is an excellent question, Mr. Branxton, but you may be surprised to hear that other planets DO in fact possess a tilt. In fact, Mars, Saturn and Neptune all have a tilt roughly the same angle as Earth’s, so they experience a similar cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The difference is that these seasons last a much longer time." As he had mentioned earlier with a season on Neptune lasting 40 some years! "Uranus is also on a tilt, but its angle is much more severe than other planets, so the planet experiences much more extreme seasons. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, on the other hand, have nearly no tilt at all and therefore do not experience noticeable changes from season to season."
A demonstration here in just another minute or two should help demonstrate this a little better.
AND SOME DRAMATIC FINGER POINTING AND CRAZY!MAN GRINNING TOWARDS YOU MR. ODESSA!
"STELLAR!" he cheered. "Did you all hear Mr. Odessa just now? Consider his words to be our mantra for remembering just what causes the seasons. Take two points, Mr. Odessa."
Should put that to some music. Hmmmm...
CHUCKLE!SNORT!
"You never cease to amuse me, Mr. Toussaint," he laughed.
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!
Flicking his wand towards the board to show another diagram for reference while the quaffle continues to act all Earth-like.
"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."
OOC: class will resume sometime tomorrow GMT  somewhere between 12 to 16 hours from the time of this post hopefully <3
After all of the primping and preening needed to get into the classroom they weren’t allowed more than five words? This was an outrage. Really it was. Professor Flamsteed was limiting them completely and utterly limiting them. She didn’t like this one bit.
After all it wasn’t an unknown fact that Amelia was one of those wordy people whose words kind of just flew from her mouth without the ability for it to stop. And well, maybe just maybe he wasn’t feeling well…people who didn’t feel well sometimes didn’t want to hear a lot of words or talking.
“Professor could it be because the way the sunlight hits the earth determines how hot or how cold it is in one area?” She asked carefully. “And thinking that way if the earth wasn’t on an axis wouldn’t the winters always be the same length on both the southern and northern hemispheres? If you know the earth was not ‘wonkily’ tipping on its side more and more every year?” She asked careful with her word choice.
Even if a part of her wanted to see how many shades of red his face could go...if she simply said the word astrologer or astrology it would...that was funny...so funny when his face went all magenta because of her word choice last term.
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Last edited by itsjustjesse; 05-12-2014 at 09:55 PM.
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