Reason for the Season #2 Angle of the Sun's Rays

The main reason for the Seasons is the TILT of the Earth's axis.  But there are other factors that come into play as well...the second reason is THE ANGLE OF THE SUN'S RAYS. 

Our star, the Sun, is a YUGE ball of energy!

When the Sun shines on us, tiny photons, or packages of energy are thrown at the Earth and hit it with amazing force.  We have felt this in July when we are waiting for 4th of July parade to start and our skin is just prickling with heat and we want to hide under a tree or an umbrella.

The Sun produces 360 billion billion (nope, I didn't stutter) megawatts of power per day. Using math physicists have calculated that this equals 4 million tons of hydrogen per second burned by our star to heat the Solar System. 

That's right!  That's a lot of energy that hits the Earth.  Even though we are the size of a pea compared to the Sun, our distance keeps us from burning up into a black cinder.  When it comes to the seasons...our tilt causes those photons to hit directly or indirectly.  An indirect hit means the energy is dispersed, or less hot.  I'm not kidding! 

We can measure the angle of sunlight by using time.  Many young scientists have charted the exact time the Sun sets over a period of months.  During the summer the pattern shows over and over that in the northern hemisphere the daylight hours are longer, the temperatures are warmer than in the Southern Hemisphere where the daylight hours are shorter and the temperature is colder.  This is all attributed to the TILT and the ANGLE OF THE SUN'S RAYS.