what causes the 4 seasons?

Question

it can be in anyway,just make sure it is related to the question n is scientific.

Answer 1

Seasons occur on the Earth because of the tilt of the Earth's axis. Because the Earth's spin is not exactly aligned with the Earth's orbit around the sun, the Sun sometimes shines directly over the nothern hemisphere, and other times shines directly over the southern hemisphere. For instance, the sun reaches its most northerly position (the tropic of cancer) on June 21. This is called the "summer solstice." If you were standing on the tropic of cancer on June 21, the sun would be directly overhead at noon. This is the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere. Because the sun is shining more directly in the north than in the south, the weather is warmer in the north in June. In December, the opposite happens. The sun is over the tropic of Capricorn, and is shining directly at the southern hemisphere. So December is summer in Australia and Brazil, but winter in America, Europe, and Asia.

Some people believe that summer is when the Earth is closest to the sun. This is not true. In fact, the Earth is farthest from the sun in early July, and nearest the sun in January. Because these differences in distance are so small however, they hardly affect the seasons at all.

Answer 2

The above answers are wrong or incomplete!
The seasons are caused by the earth's axis inclination of about 23° respect to its plane of orbit (defined as the one in which the sun and the earth are in the same plane). If the axis were not tilted then there would be no seasons. As the earth goes around the sun during the year, if you fix a point on the earth and a time during the day you will see that the light rays will arrive at different angles during the year. If the same amount of rays hit a bigger surface area of the earth (i.e. during Winter) it means that it will be less heated up. Instead during Summer the sun is high in the sky and the same energy is not so spread out on the surface, on the contrary is more concentrated resulting in a warmer climate.
It's not the earth's distance from the Sun which makes the seasons (in fact the sun is farther away during the northern hemisphere's summer than it is in winter).

Answer 3

The Earth is tilted by 23 1/2 degrees. During the Summer months,
the north is pointed toward the Sun allowing more direct sunlight.
During the winter, we are tilted away from the sun so the sunlight
is more indirect as the sun seems lower in the sky.
There are 4 cardinal points in our calender;
Summer solstice, autumnal equinox, winter solstice and vernal equinox.
Beginning of summer, fall, winter and spring. This coincides
with the position of earth as it goes around the sun.
Each of the cardinal days can take place over a three day period,
20th, 21st, 22nd. On June 22nd, summer solstice, it is the longest
day of the year. It is also the day that the north pole is pointing
directly at the sun. The next day it will have passed this point
and start pointing away from the sun, hence, the days will also start
getting shorter. For further info,
feel free to email me, [e-mail]

Answer 4

The Earth's axis is not aligned with the sun at 90 degrees, so sometimes your country is pointed directly at the sun, sometimes the angle is more oblique. The angle between the two means that the solar radiation is effected in different ways: during summer it strikes true and warms that area, during winter the angle means that the land is warmed, but the energy is dispersed over a wider area.

Also - the Earth has a precession, or wobble, which may effect the seasons 'change', but I'm not sure if this is just complicating matters, and you'd need to check up on that.

Answer 5

freeborn's answer is correct, but the Earth does not "wobble", nor its distance to the sun matters. It's actually CLOSER to the sun during winter. But, like a gyroscope, its spin axis pretty steady as it orbits the sun, but at an angle relative to the stars. Because of this, it changes the average angle of solar infall over the seaons, which is why temperatures and weather varies throughout. If the sun is generally overheat, it'll be hot, if it's generally low in the horizon, it'll be cold. When you buy a globe of the earth that spins on a mount, notice that it's usually set at a angle. It's this angle that causes the seasons.

Sacar's reference to the precession is a wobble that has an orbital period of about 26,000 years, which has very little influence in the yearly seasonal changes. Its effects are much more long term.

Answer 6

The earth is slightly tilted causing it to wobble making the Earth's surface either further or closer to the sun at different times of the year this causes the four seasons.

Answer 7

The orbiting of earth around the sun in its oval shaped path which make its distant from earth to sun irregular and change every 6 months.

Answer 8

The self rotation of the Earth.