Monday, February 23, 2009
Today we had a short lesson. We learnt a lot but very little. A lot of concepts and ideas and theories, but very little put in words. This is something I think we need to brush up on. How to express our answers in words.So, the first question posed to us was:
- What is distribution?
- Which areas?
- Why?
- What is climate?
- How many types/kinds of climate?
- What is the difference (how to tell them apart?) ?
From what we have learnt so far, we are already able to answer question 1. What is climate? It is how warm and how wet a particular place is.
We were then splitted into groups according to our birthdates! Interesting way of grouping. Some of us were to answer the question above, and others were to answer the question below.
Why are there seasons?
For my group, we came to understand that seasons are caused by the 23.5 degrees tilt of the Earth on its own axis, AND the revolution about the Sun. The amount of insolation the Northern hemisphere receives from the Sun determines the seasons it is going through.
During the period of June, the incoming solar energy is the greatest in the Northern Hemisphere, thus it is going through summer. Looking at your notes, Figure 2-11, the diagram shown is a clear representation of the tilt towards the sun in June. It is clear that the Northern hemisphere receives most insolation from the Sun then. Vice versa for the winter time in Dec for Northern Hemishpere.
As the year goes by, the rotation of the Earth on it's own axis plus the revolution around the Sun causes Autumn , Winter, Spring to follow as well.
When Spring and Autumn is in place, the position of the Earth towards the Sun allows equal amounts of insolation for BOTH hemispheres. though the position of the Earth during Spring and Autumn receives same amount of insolation, it is different because when Summer becomes Winter, (warm to cold) leaves dry up start to fall: Autumn. When winter becomes summer (cold to warm) leaves are given more warmth and all life needs warmth to grow therefore Spring comes.
So far this is what we have concluded. Coreect me if i'm wrong and, if your group is ready to share your view on any of the 2 questions, please comment. *winks*
Sue-Ann. [: