The Earth rotates on its axis every
24 hours
One __ on Earth is when our side of the Earth faces away from the sun.
day
__ is when the side of Earth we are on faces away from the sun.
night on Earth
It takes the Earth __ days (or rotations) to travel or revolve around the Sun once.
365.25 days
When the Earth revolves or travels around the Sun this is called a __
revolution
_ means to spin on an axis
rotate
_ is the motion of a body around another body
revolve
_ is the path that is followed around another body in space.
orbit
The Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle. It is an
ellipse
Seasons are not caused by how _ the Earth is to the sun.
close
In fact, the Earth is _ to the sun around January 3 and _ away from the sun around July 4.
closer, farther. January (winter) July (summer)
Seasons are the result of the _ of the Earth's axis.
tilt
This tilting is why we have _ like fall, winter, spring, and summer.
seasons
The number of daylight hours is _ for the hemisphere, or half of Earth, that is tilted toward the Sun.
greater
Summer is warmer than winter (in each hemisphere) because the Sun's rays hit the Earth at a more _ _ durning summer than during winter.
direct angle
Also the days are much _ than the nights during the _
longer, summer
During the winter, the Sun's rays hit the Earth at an _ _, and the days are very short. These effects are due to the tilt of the Earth's axis.
indirect angle
__ occur twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is oriented at its extreme tilt.
solstices
Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs on _ and marks the beginning of winter.
December 21
The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year. It occurs on _ and marks the beginning of summer.
June 21
A day lasts _ hours and a night lasts _ hours at all latitudes.
12, 12
Equinox literally means _ _.
equal light.
Sunlight strikes the earth most directly at the _
equinox.
This occurs _ a year.
twice
The vernal (spring) equinox occurs _ _
March 21
The autumnal (fall) equinox occurs __ _
September 21
Eclipses occur when a _ blocks the view of either the sun or the moon.
shadow
A _ eclipse occurs when the moon is between the Earth and the sun. Because the distance between the bodies has to be just perfect, we don't have a solar eclipse every new moon.
solar
The _ is the area in shadow that sees the full effect of the eclipse.
umbra
The _ is the area that is in a partial shadow zone and observes only a partial effect.
penumbra
Tides are produced by the _ pull of the moon and the sun.
gravitational
When the sun and moon are lined up in a _ line we experience a spring tide.
straight
A _ tide provides the maximum gravitational pull and the highest tides.
spring
_ tides are produced when the moon and the sun are perpendicular to each other.
neap
Neap produce _ high tides than a spring tide.
smaller
During high tides, water is pulled in one direction or the other and produce a _ of water on the surface.
bulge
Lunar phases occur once a _.
month
There are _ days in the lunar cycle.
29 days
As the moon _ around the Earth, we see a different reflection of sunlight depending on the position of the Earth sun and the moon.
revolves
Waxing is when the light is on the _ side of the moon.
right
_ means the visible (white) portion of the moon is getting bigger.
waxing
_ is when the light is on the left side of the moon.
waning
Waning means the visible (white) portion of the moon is getting _
smaller
What are the phases of the moon?
starting with a new moon (no visible light) we have a waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third or last quarter, waning crescent and back to a new moon.