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

TeafortheSoul · 05-12-2014, 10:38 PM

SPOILER!!: professorrr

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

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...

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.

SPOILER!!: click for image ^___^

"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

[/FONT][/COLOR]

West grinned. Points for a rhyme, okay. Did Flammy want a whole song? Because hell, why not? The Dead Kneazles could totally do one for him. He listened to the explanation and watched, nodding every now and then.

Another question.

And actually.... West figured his same answer would do in a different way. So he put his hand up and repeated, "Tilted rotation effects exposure duration." Pause.

"Except in this case we're talking on a day by day basis and not seasonally, though they feed into each other. When a particular part of the Earth is tilted toward the sun for longer, then that hemisphere is also exposed to more Sun during the course of its day because more surface area gets sunlight. We're talking about latitude here, the closer to the equator the more direct sunlight there is and the warmer it is because even with the tilt that part is exposed for longer so the density of light from the Sun is higher, while closer to the poles being exposed to the Sunlight for less time and with less light density means night comes faster and the temperature is lower." That was... enough words. Yeah. He stopped his explaining.

05-12-2014, 10:38 PM	#186 (permalink)
TeafortheSoul Formerly: Tegz Demiguise Join Date: May 2008 Location: Hobbiton Posts: 24,239 Hogwarts RPG Name: ??? Ravenclaw Hogwarts RPG Name: Ronnie Thurkell Gryffindor Seventh Year x12 x12	lives in a hobbit hole \|\| Ern and Touz's Nuzzle \|\| roflysst \|\| looking at a seed packet SPOILER!!: professorrr Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie 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... 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. SPOILER!!: click for image ^___^ Source: NASA's Space Place :: Home :: NASA's The Space Place "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 [/FONT][/COLOR] West grinned. Points for a rhyme, okay. Did Flammy want a whole song? Because hell, why not? The Dead Kneazles could totally do one for him. He listened to the explanation and watched, nodding every now and then. Another question. And actually.... West figured his same answer would do in a different way. So he put his hand up and repeated, "Tilted rotation effects exposure duration." Pause. "Except in this case we're talking on a day by day basis and not seasonally, though they feed into each other. When a particular part of the Earth is tilted toward the sun for longer, then that hemisphere is also exposed to more Sun during the course of its day because more surface area gets sunlight. We're talking about latitude here, the closer to the equator the more direct sunlight there is and the warmer it is because even with the tilt that part is exposed for longer so the density of light from the Sun is higher, while closer to the poles being exposed to the Sunlight for less time and with less light density means night comes faster and the temperature is lower." That was... enough words. Yeah. He stopped his explaining. __________________ love is like a letter wrote :: and life is like an envelope be careful who you give it to :: they might not give it back to you