Seasons
2,971,595
Published 2015-02-09
**This video comes in the middle of the semester, so there may be terms with which the audience is unfamiliar. For a full playlist, refer to the Oceanography playlist on the Earth Rocks! YouTube Channel.
Air-Sea Interactions Series:
Part I: Seasons
Part II: Relative Humidity
Part III: Atmospheric Gases, Heats, and Pressures
Part IV: Atmospheric Circulation
Part V: Weather Phenomena
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Additional notes:
The Earth orbits the Sun once every 364.25 days. Every 4 years we have a leap year, where we add an additional day in February to make it up.
The images in this video are not drawn to scale, because to do so, we couldn't see the Earth and Sun in the same image. The Sun is actually 109 times greater in width (diameter) than the Earth. That means that when they were drawn next to each other, the Earth would be 1/109th the height of the Sun. We wouldn't see it on the screen.
The distance between the Earth and the Sun is actually about 23,400 times the Earth's diameter. That means that when drawn next to each other as shown in the top image of the video, the Earth would actually appear smaller than a pin hole (you'd need to line up 23,400 of them next to each other to reach the Sun).
Earth rotates around its own axis once every 23 hours and 56 minutes. It takes another 4 minutes more rotation to face the Sun again. So when we talk about a day = 24 hours, we are really saying the time it takes to return us to facing the Sun. (Technically called a "solar day.") Multiply 4 minutes per day by 1/2 a year and you get about 12 hours. By the time we get to the other side of Earth's orbit, we are about 12 hours rotated from where we were on the other side. The result is that noon always ends up with us almost directly under the Sun depending on where you live in a time zone. We don't notice this 12-hour rotation unless we look at the stars in the sky (the "fixed objects" against which we can see our motion). That's why we see different constellations at night depending on the time of the year.
All Comments (21)
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Every so often, I get to realize that there are still a handful of people on earth that actually know how to explain something and get it exactly right.
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You learn more in YouTube than in school
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you have no idea how long this question has been at the back of my head, it all makes sense now...thank you
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This is actually the only video on youtube that explains seasons clearly! Thank you.
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You know, at the time of writing this comment, this video is 7 years old and most likely not many if any people at all are going to see this. I just wanted to say thank You for the information in the video. Just know that it was very helpful to someone somewhere and I truly apperciate that.
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I simply can't thank you enough for this video, you sure are talented. The fact that you can explain all this (EASILY) within 5 1/2 minutes. Again, thank you. I was struggling with a school project and this really eased the stress I was in. Such a simple explanation on a big topic. It really helped.
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8 years ago in South Africa there was a boy getting ready to write his final examination in matric on Geography, he wasn't good at science and his marks where hanging on to dear life, and it all came down to geography. So he studied and studied and he came across this very same video, but he ignored it because what are the odds of this being asked in the paper, Question 5.2.1 what season is in the Southern hemisphere during Septemberšš, long story short i passed my exams and guess what job i chose, a geography teacher. So every now and then when its time to teach about this very same topic, i just open youtube look for this very same video and let you work your magic. Works everytime
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What an amazing video, well done for the excellent use of language and imagery. I finally understand the seasons, and Iām 60 years old - thank you !
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Now I correctly understand the summer and wintertime at my place. Perfect explanation for confused people like me.
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Many flat Earthers were injured in the making of this video.
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By far the best video on this topic. Having the circle on the Earth showing the most intense sun helped wrap my head around things.
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Very well done video delivering the maximum amount of information in a precise and manner that was easy to understand. Hats off to the Director and Narrator for the detailed research with a lot of moving parts. In this video format one can watch as many times as necessary.
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Greetings from the equator. Here, the sun is a deadly laser.
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Absolutelly amazing explanation and very educational and interesting!!.. Thanks!ššš
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Your amazing! I was having trouble with this topic, and in a mere 5 minutes, you explained it wonderfully! Thank you
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That was an excellent video. One of the very few around that do the topic justice. Certainly the best of its kind. Congratulations, you rock!
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Simply explained and very informative!
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This is my go to video for quick revision of earth sun cosmic interactions.
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After 20 yrs I'm getting a clarity about this topic .. Thank youš
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the best video with best animation where you can actually see what is happening and why
