Description
In this exhibit, you can make the Earth rotate around the sun yourself. The sun emits light, allowing you to see where it is day and where it is night by the shadows on Earth. Where sunlight reaches the Earth, it is day. Where there is no light, it is night. Because the Earth rotates on its axis 365 times in a year, we have 365 days in a year.
In addition, the Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees from the plane in which the planets orbit the sun. Due to the greater or smaller distance from the north or south to the sun, the seasons occur.
Do you live in the northern hemisphere? Then it is summer when that side of the globe is tilted towards the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun is then smallest, so more heat from the sun reaches the Earth’s surface. In the southern hemisphere, it is winter.
This knowledge of day and night and seasons is of great importance for plants and animals. In spring – when it becomes summer – everything blooms on the northern hemisphere because it gets warmer. Farmers take this into account when growing crops.
Finally, the seasons make a big difference in finding new ways to generate sustainable energy. Solar panels can generate a lot of electricity in the summer in the Netherlands, but very little in the winter. Around the equator, you have much less variation in temperature.
Why is there day and night? And why do we have seasons?
- Turn the disc.
- Turn the disc so that it is light (day!) in your country.
- Turn the disc so that your country is closest to the sun. It is then the middle of summer.
