Why are the days longer in the summer and shorter in the winter?

This has everything to do with the tilt of the earth. Say you are in the northern hemisphere around central Mexico during the summer solstice. You will notice that when the sun rises, it crosses just about directly overhead and then sinks back into the horizon, hence the longer days and more heat for that matter. This is because central Mexico, when the sun is the highest in the sky, is facing directly at the sun due to the tilt of the earth. But in central Mexico during the winter solstice, it will never reach directly overhead. This is because the southern hemisphere will now be pointing towards the sun and when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky in central Mexico, it will never reach more than about 45 degrees from the horizon. So since the sun is travelling at basically the same speed in the reference frame of the earth, during the summer solstice, there is going to be a larger circular path that the sun will travel directly overhead, hence more time and longer days, as opposed to the smaller circular path during the winter solstice. If you are wondering why I chose central Mexico, it is merely because central Mexico is at approximately 23.5 degrees north latitude, which is the exact tilt of the Earth. This can also explain why if you go to extreme latitudes near the poles, there are times in the year where the sun never rises during the winter and never sets during the summer. Hopefully this answers your question.

why can't we feel the tillt of the earth

We don't personally feel the gravity of the sun on our bodies, since it is relatively week and completely outpowered by the gravity of the earth. So, it doesn't feel like we are tilted, because we stay oriented the same in relation to the earth at all times, and our orientation to the sun doesn't feel like anything to us.

if it's a sharper degree, would we have longer seasons are shorter?

i googled your question but was not able to find much but i hope this helps: if the earth was not tilted then there would be no seasons because the seasons depend on the tilt of the earth and the hemisphere tilted away from the earth is colder because the sun´s rays are less direct

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Course: MIT+K12 > Unit 1

Lesson 4: Measurement

Earth's tilt 1: The reason for the seasons

Name: Earth's tilt 1: The reason for the seasons
Uploaded: 2013-01-03T00:46:17Z
Description: How can it be summer in North America and winter in Australia at the same time?! License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-conditions

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How can it be summer in North America and winter in Australia at the same time?! License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-conditions. Created by MIT+K12.

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♦SamuelM♦
Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to ♦SamuelM♦'s post “Why are the days longer i...”
Why are the days longer in the summer and shorter in the winter?
Button navigates to signup pageComment on ♦SamuelM♦'s post “Why are the days longer i...”
(7 votes)
Answer
- Bryan Rainwater
  Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Bryan Rainwater's post “This has everything to do...”
  This has everything to do with the tilt of the earth. Say you are in the northern hemisphere around central Mexico during the summer solstice. You will notice that when the sun rises, it crosses just about directly overhead and then sinks back into the horizon, hence the longer days and more heat for that matter. This is because central Mexico, when the sun is the highest in the sky, is facing directly at the sun due to the tilt of the earth. But in central Mexico during the winter solstice, it will never reach directly overhead. This is because the southern hemisphere will now be pointing towards the sun and when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky in central Mexico, it will never reach more than about 45 degrees from the horizon. So since the sun is travelling at basically the same speed in the reference frame of the earth, during the summer solstice, there is going to be a larger circular path that the sun will travel directly overhead, hence more time and longer days, as opposed to the smaller circular path during the winter solstice. If you are wondering why I chose central Mexico, it is merely because central Mexico is at approximately 23.5 degrees north latitude, which is the exact tilt of the Earth. This can also explain why if you go to extreme latitudes near the poles, there are times in the year where the sun never rises during the winter and never sets during the summer. Hopefully this answers your question.
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sunny mcevoy
Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to sunny mcevoy's post “why can't we feel the til...”
why can't we feel the tillt of the earth
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(6 votes)
Answer
- Jesse William Olson
  Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Jesse William Olson's post “We don't personally feel ...”
  We don't personally feel the gravity of the sun on our bodies, since it is relatively week and completely outpowered by the gravity of the earth. So, it doesn't feel like we are tilted, because we stay oriented the same in relation to the earth at all times, and our orientation to the sun doesn't feel like anything to us.
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  (3 votes)
Cici151
Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Cici151's post “What is the laser thing t...”
What is the laser thing thats cutting out rectangles at the begining?
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- Sarah
  Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to Sarah's post “Did you notice that it sp...”
  Did you notice that it spelled MIT? It was the logo like videos sometimes show in the beginning.
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  (1 vote)
katieldouglass
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to katieldouglass's post “At 2:25, the video mentio...”
At
2:25
, the video mentions that the earth is tilted. How do we know the earth is tilted? If I took a round soccer ball and tilted it, it would look the same as when I started. Do we know the earth is titled by measuring the magnetic poles?
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(2 votes)
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- Dominic
  Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Dominic's post “Yes, we use the magnetic ...”
  Yes, we use the magnetic poles to determine the tilt on the earth
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  (1 vote)
seth isaksen
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to seth isaksen's post “if it's a sharper degree,...”
if it's a sharper degree, would we have longer seasons are shorter?
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(1 vote)
Answer
- 12498688
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to 12498688's post “i googled your question b...”
  i googled your question but was not able to find much but i hope this helps:
  if the earth was not tilted then there would be no seasons because the seasons depend on the tilt of the earth and the hemisphere tilted away from the earth is colder because the sun´s rays are less direct
  Button navigates to signup page
  (2 votes)
Aneirin (Nye) Rhys Potter
Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Aneirin (Nye) Rhys Potter's post “At 2:41 she says that the...”
At
2:41
she says that the earths axis doesn't wiggle around, but I thought it does but over a very long period of time. Is this true?
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- The Chosen One
  Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to The Chosen One's post “The earth's wobble actual...”
  The earth's wobble actually makes a huge difference shifting us into huge periods of ice age and volcanic periods. In fact global warming is also caused by the wobble of the earth and eventually the world become so hot that the poles will become tropical.
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  (1 vote)
v i c t o r i a
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to v i c t o r i a's post “if the earth wasn't tilte...”
if the earth wasn't tilted, how would the seasons change? would it always be winter around the poles and summer around the equator?
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(1 vote)
Answer
- 12498688
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to 12498688's post “If the earth was not tilt...”
  If the earth was not tilted then we would not have seasons because the seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth.For Example the equator only has a wet season and a dry season because it is in the center of the earth and is not affected much by the tilt of the earth
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Andrew Hwang
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Andrew Hwang's post “Wait then what happens to...”
Wait then what happens to the revolution of the earth in the spring and fall?
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nickeldime88
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to nickeldime88's post “At 3:06, what happens at ...”
At
3:06
, what happens at the Equator? Doesn't it just become both indirect and direct sunlight?
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Ryan Nee
Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Ryan Nee's post “Is there any specific pla...”
Is there any specific place on Earth that is the least affected by seasonality? It seems likely to be the equator, which still seems like it has seasons, albeit minor ones. Is that the latitude line least seasonally affected by the earth's tilt?
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(1 vote)
Answer
- Michael Kelley
  Posted 11 years ago. Direct link to Michael Kelley's post “There are a few places th...”
  There are a few places that are not affected by season change, like the island of Guam, but they experience rainy and sunny seasons.
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  (1 vote)

Video transcript

Imagine that you live in North America. And one day you call up your friend in Australia. You guys are talking, and you make plans to go visit him next summer. So anytime next summer works for you? Yeah, whenever is best for you. Surprise me. In a few months, July rolls around, and you hop on a plane for your Australian vacation. Imagine your surprise when you show up at his house, and he tells you-- What are you doing here mate? It's the middle of winter. And then you say-- Winter? It's the middle of summer back in America. And your friend's like-- I don't know what to tell you. July is winter for us. OK, I don't get this. How can it be summer in America and winter in Australia at the same time? That's a great question. I think we can help you out with that. To answer this question, we have to zoom way back and start with a top-down look at the Earth's orbit around the sun. Oh by the way, everything you see in this video isn't to the correct scale. Now, the Earth's orbit isn't a perfect circle. It's actually an ellipse. You usually see it drawn like this. Lots of people think-- Hey, this must be by we have seasons. When the Earth is close to the Sun, we have summer, and when the Earth is far away from the Sun, we have winter. But that's actually not true. [BUZZER] If that were true, it would be summer in America and Australia at the same time. And we know that's not the case. Exactly. The way we've drawn Earth's orbit here is really exaggerated. People just draw it that way to highlight the extreme. In actuality, there's a relatively small difference between the Earth's closest and furthest points from the Sun. If we draw Earth's orbit with the correct shape, it looks like this. You can see it's actually pretty circular, but it's not perfect. So it's not the closeness of the Earth to the Sun that causes the seasons. To see what's actually at work, we have to look that the orbit from the side. In our side view, the Earth is revolving around the Sun in this orbital plain here. It takes one year to go through a full orbit, 365 days. Remember, at the same time Earth is rotating on its axis once every day. The important thing, for the seasons at least, is that the Earth actually isn't straight up and down. It's tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. So when the Earth is on this side of the Sun, the Northern Hemisphere is angled away from the Sun. The Southern Hemisphere is angled toward the Sun. When the Earth is revolving around the Sun, it stays tilted in the same position. The axis doesn't wiggle around or anything. It just stays fixed in a certain direction. So when the Earth is over here, the Northern Hemisphere is angled towards the Sun, and the Southern Hemisphere is angled away. When a hemisphere is angled towards the Sun, the Sun's rays hit it directly. That's what's happening in the Northern Hemisphere here. But when a hemisphere is angled away from the Sun, like the Southern Hemisphere here, the Sun's rays hit it indirectly. OK, so what difference does direct or indirect sunlight make? Oh, there's a huge difference. Let's take a look with a simple experiment. In this experiment, we're going to use a flashlight to simulate the Sun. Say that the flashlight is a particular sunbeam. If it's shining directly, all its energy is concentrated in a certain area. But if the sunbeam is shining indirectly, the area is larger. This means that the same amount of energy is spread out over a larger area. So in a particular point on the paper it feels colder in the indirect sunbeam than in the direct sunbeam. And the more indirect the sunbeam, the larger the area. It's important to note that the amount of energy in the sunbeam is always the same. It's not changing. However, if it's spread out over a larger area, we feel it less. Let's take a look at what this means for the Earth. Here we have a globe that's angled at about 23.5 degrees. It's June, so the Northern Hemisphere is angled towards the Sun. If we shine the flashlight directly on the Northern Hemisphere, we see it illuminates a certain area. But when we move the flashlight to shine indirectly on the Southern Hemisphere, we see that it's illuminating a larger area, just like we talked about. So let's put it all together. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, it's receiving direct sunlight. It feels warmer, which means it's summer there. And the Southern Hemisphere is receiving indirect sunlight, which means it feels cooler. That's winter. Six months later, when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, we have the opposite. It's the Southern Hemisphere receiving direct sunlight, so it's summer there. And the Northern Hemisphere is receiving indirect sunlight. So they're having winter. And now you know the reason for the seasons. Awesome. So it's not how close the Earth is to the Sun that matters. But instead it's the tilt of the Earth. Which is also why it's winter in Australia at the same time as it's summer in America. You got it. Well, I think this has been the most educational vacation I've ever had And there's so much more to talk about. Did you know that the Earth-- You know, I actually think I'm good for now. Oh, OK. So what would you like to do now? We can go bush walking and barby. Get some soccer. [MUSIC PLAYING]