Why are there seasons? – ‘The Why’

Why are there seasons?

Welcome to today’s edition of The Why.
Everywhere you look the media is pushing you telling you who to follow, what to watch and when to watch it.   You’re even sometimes told how to do it all.  Truth is, here at American Live Wire we do a bit of that too.  The big difference is we also tell you why.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

“Why are there seasons?” you ask?

Before we get into the question “Why are there seasons?” can we get personal for a minute?  When you have two college degrees and additional grad level work beyond that but for some reason you’re not rich and you still struggle to pay the bills it’s so wonderful to be able to tell your parents that there are great many people with money in the world who to put it nicely don’t know everything and that you use your education on a daily basis  . . . like right now.

It’s a pleasure to be able to effortlessly answer a question.  Plus, lets’ be honest, once you get older you realize there is little comfort in thinking you have forgotten more than some people will ever learn.  No, all you think about it your memory is going because you are getting old.

Why are there seasons?

So, why are there seasons?  Why do we have Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter?  Before we get to the facts, let’s discount the fiction.

To say that we have seasons because Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer so it’s’ hotter and Earth is farthest from the Sun in the winter so it’s colder is at best a common misconception.  Yes, even one of the NASA websites admits the idea makes sense but that doesn’t make it right.  (It makes sense that yours truly should be well-off and world famous by now but that doesn’t make it true, does it?)  So, why do we have seasons then?

The answer is simple.

We have seasons because our planet is “crooked” or “angled.”  NASA can help explain it more scientifically.  Our planet has an imaginary axis or pole that goes through the center from “top” to “bottom.”

“Earth has seasons because its axis doesn’t stand up straight.”  Many, many, many, years ago when our planet was very young scientists believe that something huge struck Earth.  (They named it Theia.)  Theia knocked Earth “off-kilter.”  From that point on, “instead of rotating with its axis straight up and down” our planet “leans” a bit.

As our planet orbits the Sun, its tilted axis is constantly pointing in the exact same direction.  Because of this, as the year moves on and the Earth rotates different sections of our globe get “the Sun’s direct rays.”  During certain times of the year the North Pole is tilted toward the Sunâ€"around Juneâ€"and other times it’s the South Pole that is tilted toward the Sunâ€"near December.”

NASA’s SpacePlace sums it up nicely by saying that it’s “summer in June in the Northern Hemisphere because the Sun’s rays hit that part of Earth more directly than at any other time of the year.”  It’s “winter in December in the Northern Hemisphere, because” that’s when the South Pole is “tilted toward the Sun.”  The other seasons occur during the transitional periods.

“Why are there seasons?”  Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

American Live Wire . . . Listen and be heard.

Why are there seasons?

 (Images courtesy of MyEnglishClub)