what causes areas closer to the equator to have warmer air than areas farther away?

Seasons and Why the Equator is Warmer than the Poles

Author: Ann Bykerk-Kauffman . Department Of Geological and Environmental Sciences, California State University, Chico

Summary

Ane of the most common and persistent scientific misconceptions is that Earth's seasons are caused by Earth'due south distance from the lord's day. A closely related and peradventure more mutual misconception is that the equator is warmer than the poles because the equator is significantly closer to the sun than are the poles (i.e. the equator "bulges out" toward the sun). Even professional geoscientists sometimes hold the latter misconception. It is, for example, stated every bit fact in i of the (to remain nameless) "Geology Underfoot" series of guidebooks. Many people combine the ii misconceptions. For example, many people know that the southern hemisphere experiences winter while the northern hemisphere experiences summer (and visa versa), but they explicate this phenomenon past erroneously stating that the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun in June than information technology is in December because World's tilt toward the lord's day in June makes the northern hemisphere "bulge out" toward the sun.

The guided-discovery activity described here helps students confront and overcome both of these common misconceptions as information technology guides students toward an understanding of how and why the angle of incident sunlight determines the intensity of the solar energy that strikes the footing and hence how the bending of incident sunlight tin exist used to explain both seasonal and latitudinal differences in temperature. Along the style, this activeness helps students visualize the true dimensions of the solar system and the various objects within it. This seemingly unrelated topic is included in this action because an accurate perception of the scale of the solar organisation helps students sympathise that (1) Earth'south equator is not significantly closer to the lord's day than are its poles, and (two) all sunrays intercepted past Earth are essentially parallel to each other, whether they strike the equatorial or polar regions -- a concept that is essential for understanding how and why the angle of incident sunlight varies systematically with latitude and season.

Learning Goals

In this activity, students confront their misconceptions virtually seasonal and latitudinal temperature variations, come up to understand the truthful causes of these phenomena, practice using elementary physical models to solve problems, and develop their 3-D visualization skills.

The specific content learning objectives are:

• Visualize the true-scale proportions of the solar system -- the sizes of objects and distances between them.
• Clearly and fully explain why it is warmer at the equator than it is at the poles.
• Show how the tilt of Earth's axis and Earth'south revolution around the sun crusade seasonal variations in temperature by causing seasonal variations in 24-hour interval length and maximum daily solar altitude.

Context for Apply

This activity has been extensively tested, revised and retested for more than 15 years in the Concepts in World and Space Sciences course for time to come teachers at California State University, Chico. It should piece of work well in Earth science and astronomy courses from eye school to higher level. Because this activity is designed to guide students toward discovery of the concepts, it works best if complete information technology before reading any explanations of or receiving any direct instruction about the causes of the seasons or why it is warmer at the equator than it is at the poles.

Description and Didactics Materials

• Student Handout (Microsoft Give-and-take 522kB Sep5 09) for the Activeness on the Seasons and Why it's Warmer at the Equator than the Poles
• Grid (Acrobat (PDF) 240kB Sep5 09) to exist printed on an overhead transparency.
• Other materials needed (in chronological guild):
  • Per Table:
    • Flashlight
    • Collection of spherical objects to correspond angelic bodies as follows:

      

    • Light fixture with a single unshaded frosted calorie-free bulb.
    • Pencil inserted into one 3 inch diameter white Polystyrene ball. An ordinary Styrofoam ball will not exercise; the ball must be opaque. Suggested source: Molecular Model Enterprises, 116 Swift St., P.O. Box 250, Edgerton, WI 53334, (608)884-9877. Prices are under $1 each.
  • Per classroom
    • Yellow or white exercise ball -- 65 cm (25.5 inch) to 75 cm (29.5 inch) bore, to represent the sunday, which has a diameter of 1.4 meg km. (The ideal scale model size would exist seventy cm or 27.5 inches.)
    • Exercise ball stand
    • 10 cm Pilates toning ball to correspond Proxima Centauri, the nearest star
    • Outdoor space at least 120 1000 long
    • Tape measure (optional; students can also measure distances by counting paces)
    • 3 band stands
    • Overhead projector
    • Large piece of white stiff (foam backed) poster board
    • Large globe on a stand; thirty" - 36" diameter is best.

Teaching Notes and Tips

General Comments: This activity can be completed in two hours if students give information technology a superficial treatment, but 3 to four hours are required for an in-depth exploration, including the confrontation of whatever misconceptions and the structure of a total understanding of the concepts.

Every bit students piece of work through these activities, encourage them to engage in lively conversations, continually brainstorming, questioning, and checking for consistency. In my experience, students are often inconsistent -- gently call them on this. For instance, one student adamantly insisted -- despite the protestations of her team members -- that the equator was not significantly closer to the sun than were the poles. Even so, she then attributed the temperature differences between the equator and the poles to differences in their distances to the sun. I pointed out that she was contradicting herself, which caused her to appoint in some deep thinking which culminated in an "Aha!" moment that she absolutely delighted in.

Notes on Lab Activity #1: Scale Model of the Solar System

• I recommend doing the outdoor activity equally a whole class with pupil volunteers to stand for each planet; cull the tallest person in the class to stride off the distances. When you get to "Earth," take the students place the moon at the appropriate altitude from Earth and signal out that, coincidentally, the moon and lord's day wait the same size as seen from Earth.
  
• In the table at the bottom of folio 2, fill in appropriate landmarks in your local surface area that are located at the model distances.
  
• Questions one and 2 on page 3 typically generate a great deal of discussion. The students may need a fair amount of prodding and questioning to get to the right answers.
  

Notes on Lab Activeness #2: Why is it Warmer at the Equator Than it is at the Poles?

• Identify the earth on a counter then that information technology is tilted to the right or left (i.e. Spring or Fall position) with the Pacific Ocean facing the overhead projector -- having a relatively characterless part of the globe face the projector helps students see the grid projected on it more than clearly, without existence distracted by the details of complex shorelines or borders.
  

Notes on Lab Activity on the Causes of the Seasons

• Before students begin this activity, explain to them that each group volition be asked to formulate an initial hypothesis to explain the causes of the seasons. The students will and then endeavour to utilize this hypothesis to explain a series of facts. If their hypothesis is not upwardly to the task, they must discard and reformulate, modify, or add to their initial hypothesis until it tin can provide a satisfactory explanation of the facts.
  

Assessment

At the end of this action, I typically assess student learning past having educatee groups nowadays their answers to the rest of the grade. I divide the different parts of this activity among the educatee groups, assigning each group to prepare illustrations and orally present their function to the balance of the class. Each presentation is then followed by a whole-class discussion.

I assign this Homework Assignment on the Causes of the Seasons (Microsoft Give-and-take 58kB Sep5 09) as cess, only also as a way for students to consolidate the understandings that they take built during the guided-discovery activity. Students often do good from a formal traditional presentation of concepts that they take previously struggled to grasp while working through a easily-on guided-discovery activity. When the traditional presentation follows guided discovery, it can be very meaningful, building students' confidence in their freshly hatched ideas and organizing their discoveries into a logical and elegant construct. Without some kind of traditional presentation of the concepts, students are often so unsure of themselves that they experience lost. Yet, in my classes, students rarely consummate (allow alone comprehend the material presented in) a "Read Chapter 3" type of assignment, even when it's followed by a quiz. Merely the vast majority of students will complete an assignment like the ane presented hither, which requires students to extract and record specific data from the textbook. Higher-social club thinking it's non, but it is a helpful incentive to encourage students to open their textbooks and actually comprehend what is written there.

I give students exercise answering questions in depression-stakes ConcepTests (using clickers) or on-line practice quizzes before asking such questions on high-stakes exams. Here are some sample questions:

Why is it hotter at the equator than it is at the poles?

a. Considering the equator is closer to the sun.

b. Considering the sun'southward rays travel through more temper at the equator.

c. Because the sun'due south energy is more spread out at the equator.

d. Because the sun'south rays hit the earth's surface at a higher angle at the equator.

e. Because the sun is always directly overhead at the equator.

If the Earth's axis merely had a v° tilt, how would the seasons in Chico be different from how they are now?

a. The seasons would be shorter.

b. The transitions between seasons would be more abrupt.

c. The dissimilarity in temperature between summertime and winter wouldn't be every bit great.

d. Summer days would exist longer than they are now and winter days would exist shorter than they are now.

e. All of the in a higher place.

On exams, I enquire students open-concluded essay questions (Microsoft Word 4.3MB Sep5 09) that crave them to synthesize the concepts gained from this lab activity.

References and Resources

Gould, A., Willard, C. and Pompea, S., 2004, The Real Reasons for Seasons: Sun-World Connections: GEMS (Bully Explorations in Math and Scientific discipline), Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.

This teacher's guide features many engaging hands-on activities. Although it was written for teachers of grades 6-8, information technology is also useful for high schoolhouse teachers and college professors.

Schneps, Matthew H., 1989, A Individual Universe.

This video was produced by the folks at the Private Universe Project who studied common misconceptions about the seasons and the phases of the moon. To view this video, roll to the bottom of the page and click on the "VoD" icon. You volition take to first register with the Annenburg Media Centre (learner.org) to run into the video, simply registration is gratis and it grants y'all access to many other videos for educators.

An extension of this activity that helps students deepen their understanding of the concepts is to model the path of the dominicus across the sky at different latitudes and at different times of the twelvemonth. An first-class inexpensive solar motion demonstrator kit is available from the Astronomical Social club of the Pacific (www.astrosociety.org). I take written a worksheet for students to consummate (Microsoft Word 63kB Sep5 09) as they piece of work with these solar motion demonstrators.

Go dorsum to the Guided Discovery Bug examples page.

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Source: https://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/guided_discovery/examples/seasons.html

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