The Earth’s Axis

The Earth’s axis is an imaginary line that goes through the center of the Earth from the north pole to the south pole. As the Earth spins on its axis it does not spin straight up and down. 

The Earth is tilted on its axis about 23.5 degrees from perpendicular.   

The tilt of the Earth’s axis does not change as the Earth revolves around the sun.  This causes the amount of sun light that areas of the Earth receives to change during a year.  

As the Earth revolves around the Sun, the increase or decrease of the amount of sunlight caused by the tilt of the Earth’s Axis changes the seasons for parts of the Earth.

You may notice that daytime is longer in the summer months and shorter in the winter month.  This is because during the summer months the axis of the Earth is pointing towards the sun, and receiving more direct sunlight.  During the winter months the axis is pointing away from the sun, and the sunlight is defused through the Earth’s atmosphere.