Week 6: Earth, Sun, Moon

1. In our lab section for week 6, we were introduced to concepts about the Earth, the sun, and the moon. We talked a lot about the positioning of the Sun and how, before, the church made everyone believe that everything orbited the Earth because that is what god created. Obviously, they were wrong, and we talked about how difficult it was to get the word out that the Earth actually orbits the sun. We talked about how the Earth is slanted, so that's why there are seasons, and they might be different than we initially expected them to be. Lastly, we talked about the moon phases, why there are moon phases, and how they occur. We talked about all these things with a demonstration from our teacher and also talked through with our table groups by figuring out our own personal models. We answered these questions with our table groups and with the help of our professor: 

how do the phases of the moon occur? 

- As the earth moves around the sun and as the moon moves around the earth, the sun lights up different parts of the moon, leaving shadows on the moon, creating the illusion of moons of different sizes from the Earth. This is a whole 28-day cycle. 

What causes the seasons?

-The thing that causes the seasons is the position of the Earth. The earth is on an axis that is tilted, so when the earth's axis points are directly hit by the sun's light, then that part of the world is in summer, and the opposite is in winter. 

What causes a lunar eclipse? 

- A lunar eclipse is caused by the sun being behind the earth, and the Earth's shadow is cast onto the moon. The reason why this doesn't happen every month is because the moon moves in a slanted orbit around the Earth. 

2. Something that I learned in Thursday's discussion was how to find out where the moon would be during the day when you are looking at where the sun is. The drawings that were being shown to help determine that during our discussion on Thursday helped me a lot to remember how to figure this out. Something else that I learned was how, during the equinox, the whole earth experiences 12 hours a day and 12 hours of night because the sun is directly hitting the Earth's equator. Lastly, I learned the longest days for the Northern Hemisphere are because the sun is directly hitting the Tropic of Cancer, which is closest to the Northern Hemisphere, and when the sun is directly hitting the Tropic of Capricorn, then the Northern Hemisphere is in the winter solstice, and we have the shortest day out of the year because the sun's direct sunlight is on the opposite side of the Earth. 

3. Something that I learned from our textbook reading for this week in Chapter 5 was the differences between solar and lunar eclipses. A solar eclipse is when the sun is being blocked by the moon. This happens when the moon and the sun are in perfect alignment, and the moon is blocking Earth from the sun's sunlight. With solar eclipses, I learned that the moon always has to be a full moon for this to happen. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon is away from the sun on the other side of the Earth, so the sunlight is not being projected onto the moon due to the Earth blocking it. I learned that during a lunar eclipse, the moon is always a full moon. Lastly, something interesting that I learned in our textbook reading is that even though the moon is orbiting around the Earth, everyone on Earth sees the same moon phase throughout the day. 

4. Something very helpful in our textbook reading this week was the video talking about the Earth's shadows and more about the tropic lines. This was helpful because of the visual representations that were being shown during the explanations of how shadows are in different spots. This was also very helpful because it gave me a chance to practice what I learned a tested me a bit to find out what I need to practice more and what I know well. 

5. Something from the textbook reading that I need more information on is the difference between a total solar eclipse and a partial solar eclipse. The difference between the two is a bit confusing for me, and I would love to get more information on that. Also, I would like to get more information on how often solar and lunar eclipses happen. 

6. Question: How does the moon get close enough for a total eclipse to happen?