Earth’s Rotation and Revolution

If the sun rises every day and sets every night, where does it go when we can’t see it? Well, nowhere. It’s actually the Earth that is rotating around the sun.

Earth is always turning or spinning on its axis. Imagine a line passing through the centre of the Earth that goes through both the North Pole and the South Pole. We call that invincible line the axis. Earth spins around that axis like a top. The spinning movement is called the Earth’s rotation. The Earth’s rotation is what gives us day and night. If you are on the side of the Earth that is facing away from the sun as the Earth is spinning, it is night; if you are on the side that is facing the sun, it is day.

Earth’s Axis Earth’s Rotation on its Axis Earth is spinning on its axis, it also orbits or revolves around the

Sun. This movement is called revolution. The Earth takes one year (365 days) to complete a revolution.

As the Earth is rotating and revolving, it’s not sitting straight up and down. Its axis is actually tilted. This tilt causes one part of the Earth to lean towards the sun while the other part is leaning away. This means that different parts of our planet’s surface gets different amounts of sunlight and heat.

At certain times of the year, you see the Northern Hemisphere lean toward the sun, while the Southern Hemisphere leans away. At other times, the Southern Hemisphere leans toward the sun, and the Northern Hemisphere leans away. That pattern is what makes seasons. If the world weren’t tilted, we would have the same season all year long!

Earth’s Revolution (Orbit) Around the Sun

What looks to us to be the motion of the Sun in the sky, is really caused by the motion of the Earth. The Earth is rotating on its axis creating day and night, and revolving around the Sun creating seasons. Since the Earth is tilted on its axis,

Winter in Southern Hemisphere, Summer in Northern Hemisphere.

Summer in Southern Hemisphere, Winter in Northern Hemisphere.

different parts of the Earth experience different weather each season. This explains why Canada experiences winter in the months of December, January, and February, while Australia experiences summer during those very same months.