Seasons
2,988,330
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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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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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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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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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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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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Now I correctly understand the summer and wintertime at my place. Perfect explanation for confused people like me.
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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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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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What an amazing video, well done for the excellent use of language and imagery. I finally understand the seasons, and I’m 60 years old - thank you !
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Absolutelly amazing explanation and very educational and interesting!!.. Thanks!👍👍😊
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This is my go to video for quick revision of earth sun cosmic interactions.
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This was very educative .the earth is so complex I am learning new staff each day. Thumbs up to the scientists.
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This video cleared a lot of confusions in my mind. So, it compelled me to admire your efforts in making this video, and elucidating the things in easy way as possible. Thanks a ton!
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Excellent video! I have been so frustrated because I feel like I've always been on the verge of having a basic understanding of the seasons and why/how they happen, but have always been missing the pieces that would have tied everything together. This video really helped me to fit the puzzle pieces together!
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Great video! Very useful information! Thank you very much, it helped me a lot!
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The illustration is what i was wondering about i already knew about the opposite seasons on each hemisphere. im a visual learner 😎 thank you!
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Its so fantastic. Learned a lot from the video. The animation/graphics part is amazing.
