It would change our seasons.
Decreasing the effects of summer and winter with a decrease in the axial tilt and increasing those effects with an increase in the axial tilt.
The earth is inclined on its axis by 23 degrees. This difference is what creates our seasons. If the earth had vertical axis, with respect to the sun, then we would always have the same season. The world wouldn't be as nice to live in because the weather would be constant and horrible at the equator.
All weather is driven by the sun and when the atmosphere is heated it moves, and when warm air goes over water it picks up water. When warm air hits cold air it rains and when water laden air hits the mountains it can't get over them unless it dumps some of its water as rain, sleet, or snow.
The 23 degree angle gives us a change in the seasons. If the change was less then the differences between each season would be less. In the tropics there are really only two seasons; the wet and the dry. If we weren't inclined at an angle then we would have the same thing over all of the earth. This would be bad because rain would be rare in the summer and way too much in the winter. It would change the types of crops that could survive. Most of our staple foods like grain and corn wouldn't be able to make an adaptation to a change in the earth's axis and would die out. If they had never evolved then mankind wouldn't have been able to form civilizations.
There is no force that we know of, short of a huge collision that could change the earth's axis’s. We are safe there, but the changing effects of global warming are causing increasing problems.
The effect of an axis change would be most noticeable at the north and south poles. As you know they have long periods in the winter with no day; when you get above 20 degrees latitude you will start to notice this. This is because during the winter the sun's rays never hit the earth's surface at those areas.
The northern hemisphere is lucky because when it is the winter we are at our closest approach to the sun and when it is summer we are at our farthest point; making our seasons much more mild.
2007-09-18 18:53:03
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answer #1
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answered by Dan S 7
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If there was a less tilted axis, you might get warmer winters and cooler summers. If there was a more tilted axis, there may be warmer summers, and cooler winters.
2007-09-19 01:48:23
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answer #3
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answered by bruin1144 2
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