The Earth moves around the sun
🌎 This Topic is About...
- 🌞 I will learn how the Earth moves around the Sun.
- 🌤️ I will discover how the tilt of the Earth creates seasons in different places.
- 🌀 I will use diagrams to show the Earth’s orbit and how seasons change.
- 🗺️ I will learn that diagrams help us understand big ideas like orbits and seasons.
- 💻 I will use books and the internet to find answers to my questions.
Get ready to explore space and see how our planet dances around the Sun! 🚀🌍
🌟 Key Words
- ellipse
- hemisphere
- North Pole
- orbit
- revolve
- rotate
- season
- slight ellipse
- South Pole
- tilt
- year
📖 Tap to Learn the Meanings!
- ⭕ ellipse: A stretched-out circle shape — like the Earth’s path around the Sun.
- 🌍 hemisphere: One half of the Earth, either north or south of the equator.
- ❄️ North Pole: The very top point of the Earth.
- ☀️ orbit: The curved path Earth takes as it moves around the Sun.
- 🔄 revolve: To move around something else, like Earth revolving around the Sun.
- 🌀 rotate: To spin or turn around an axis, like Earth spinning to make day and night.
- 🌦️ season: One of the four parts of the year — spring, summer, autumn, or winter.
- 📏 slight ellipse: A shape almost like a circle but just a little stretched.
- 🐧 South Pole: The very bottom point of the Earth.
- ⚖️ tilt: A small lean or slant — Earth is tilted slightly on its axis.
- 📅 year: The time it takes Earth to go once around the Sun — 365 days!
Great job exploring new space words! 🚀🌎
🌞 Earth's Journey Around the Sun
As well as turning on its axis, the Earth revolves, or moves around, the Sun. The path the Earth travels along is called an orbit.
The orbit is shaped a bit like an egg. This shape is called an ellipse. It is not a perfect ellipse, so scientists call it a slight ellipse.
Because of the shape of the orbit, the Earth is sometimes closer to the Sun and sometimes further away. The average distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million km.
🌍 How the Earth Moves
The Earth moves around the Sun in an anticlockwise direction. It takes about 365¼ days or 1 year for the Earth to complete its orbit. During this time, it travels nearly 940 million km around the Sun!
The Sun is much bigger than the Earth, so it exerts a stronger gravitational force. This force keeps the Earth moving in its orbit and prevents it from drifting away into space.
🔍 Think like a Scientist
A model of Earth’s orbit 🌍☀️
1. Give reasons why the diagram above is a good model of the Earth orbiting the sun.
2. In what way is the diagram not a good model?
3. Why is the shape of the orbit described as a ‘slight ellipse’?
👀 Tap to See Answers
- 1: It shows the Earth moving around the Sun along a curved path, just like in real life. 🌞
- 2: The diagram is not to scale — the Sun and Earth are much smaller compared to the distance between them. 📏
- 3: The orbit is not a perfect circle but slightly stretched, so scientists call it a “slight ellipse.” 🔵➡️
Excellent thinking — you’re modelling space just like a real scientist! 🌠
🔍 Think like a Scientist
A model of Earth’s orbit – Continued 🌍☀️
4. Which force keeps the Earth in its orbit around the sun?
5. While the Earth is orbiting the sun, what other movement is the Earth making?
6. One year is 365¼ days. But we don’t have one day in the year that is only 6 hours long. How do we manage the ¼ day? (Use the internet to find this answer.)
👀 Tap to See Answers
- 4: Gravity keeps the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. 🌞
- 5: While orbiting the Sun, the Earth also spins or rotates on its axis — this causes day and night! 🌍🌙☀️
- 6: Every four years we add an extra day to February — this is called a leap year. 📅
Amazing work — you’re truly thinking like an astronomer! 🌠
🌦️ Understanding the Seasons
The seasons are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Seasons are caused by the Earth orbiting the Sun once a year and by the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Each season occurs when the Earth is at a particular position in its orbit around the Sun.
🌍 Northern and Southern Hemispheres
The months that you experience each season depend on which hemisphere you live in. Countries between the Equator and the North Pole are in the northern hemisphere. Countries between the Equator and the South Pole are in the southern hemisphere.
☀️ Why Seasons Are Opposite
When the northern hemisphere has summer, the southern hemisphere has winter. This happens because the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. In summer, the days are long and the nights are short.
At the Equator, there are no distinct seasons — there is equal day and night on every day of the year.
🌍 Different seasons in different parts of the world
Look at the diagram that shows the Earth in its December position in its orbit around the Sun. It helps us understand how different parts of the world can have different seasons at the same time.
