Next week it is over...
A week from today here in the United States of America we have a federal holiday coming up that we call Labor Day. It also is known as the unofficial end of summer. To tell you the truth, I think this summer went way to fast this year, the last three months have been like a like a blur to me. I can tell you that I didn’t get near the things done that I had hoped to get done. So hopefully we’ll have a good fall and I will be able to tackle some of those projects.
Noticeably shorter days...
The days are getting noticeably shorter as far as the daylight hours go even right now. Back in the middle of July it seemed like it stayed light out almost until 9:00 PM now it is getting dark at a few minutes after 8:00PM. One of these days, if I ever get some free time, I want to do a little studying on the seasons, weather, and the sun and moon.
Seasons mess with my mind...
I have a hard time comprehending just how we can have seasons that on one side of the earth are opposite those on the other side of the earth at the same time. Another thing I have trouble understanding is how we can have such big temperature differences on this earth at the same time. I was taught in school that the sun was the source of heat for planet earth along with being the source of light.
Texas isn't the South Pole...
So how is it that I am here in Texas where we have been having 100 degree Fahrenheit temperate days pretty regularly these last few weeks and about 8700 miles to the south of here in Antarctica at the South Pole the average temperature is -56 Fahrenheit for this time of year?
That is over 150 degrees temperature variation yet we are both getting our sun light and heat from the same source, the sun. So what makes the South Pole so much colder and the same goes for the North Pole, while not as cold as the South Pole, the north stays pretty cold year round too?
Now I know some one of you good folks are going to explain it to me or at least attempt too.
I'm sure there is an explanation coming....
I think it is going to go something like this, “What you aren’t taking into consideration @sultnpapper is that Texas , while not at the equator , is still considerably closer to the sun that the poles are, So the sunlight and heat are more intense in Texas than at the poles.” Then the next sentence will be,” So the nearer the sun the warmer it is going to be for those areas.” So thank you in advance for that explanation.
Quick math time...
I’m not going to invest a lot of time this evening while I am writing this to do research but from memory the earth is 24,000 miles in circumference and we know that the greatest distance then that could be a difference would be 12,000 miles closer to the sun at the equator that at the poles, can we agree on that?
What is the loss per thousand...
So how much heat and light is lost from the sun per 1,000 miles is it one degree , ten, fifteen or maybe twenty? Fifteen x 12 = 180 so that might be a little high. The other way we could go is divide the 150 by and 12 and that would give us 12.5 ; is 12.5 degrees loss in temperature per 1,000 miles the right number?
How hot is the sun...
Just how hot is the heat we are getting when it leaves the sun? According to google the temperature of the sun is 5,778 Kelvin so that converts to 9,940.73 degrees Fahrenheit. So there is quite a temperature loss from the sun to the earth. The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was 134.1 degrees in California, why wasn’t that highest temperature recorded at the equator?
Eager to learn...
See there is just so much I don’t know that I am eager to learn about when it comes to planet earth. Someday I might just learn it.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
