Happy Perihelion!

[Kai]

Lets all get drunk tomorrow and celebrate! 

For those uninitiated, Perihelion is the day the earth passes along it's ellipse closest to the sun, this year on January 3rd. It cycles between 1 to five of January every few years. Aphelion, the day the earth is furthest from the sun, is in July.



And if you ask me why, why, Kai, is it cold in the winter if the earth is /closest/ to the sun, then I will kill a motherfucker. 

[Brotep]

Lets all get drunk tomorrow and celebrate! 

For those uninitiated, Perihelion is the day the earth passes along it's ellipse closest to the sun, this year on January 3rd. It cycles between 1 to five of January every few years. Aphelion, the day the earth is furthest from the sun, is in July.

Well.  So long as it involves drunken celebration, I'm all for it.  Rock on, perihelion.  Rock on.

And if you ask me why, why, Kai, is it cold in the winter if the earth is /closest/ to the sun, then I will kill a motherfucker.  :argh!

Hahaha, this lady came up to me while I was eating lunch at school, wanted to ask me a question.  The question was "Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?"  She was in the school of education, doing research on students' misconceptions, and apparently no one else had come up with the right answer.

[Kai]

Lets all get drunk tomorrow and celebrate! 

For those uninitiated, Perihelion is the day the earth passes along it's ellipse closest to the sun, this year on January 3rd. It cycles between 1 to five of January every few years. Aphelion, the day the earth is furthest from the sun, is in July.

Well.  So long as it involves drunken celebration, I'm all for it.  Rock on, perihelion.  Rock on.

And if you ask me why, why, Kai, is it cold in the winter if the earth is /closest/ to the sun, then I will kill a motherfucker.  :argh!

Hahaha, this lady came up to me while I was eating lunch at school, wanted to ask me a question.  The question was "Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?"  She was in the school of education, doing research on students' misconceptions, and apparently no one else had come up with the right answer.

ARGGGGGGGGGG HUMANS GET THE HELL OFF MY PLANET!!

[Richter]

I'm now comparing the orbital mechanics on why perihelion and solstice DON'T coincide. 

Fuck yuo KAI! 

[Jasper]

Now I want to test myself.  I haven't checked wiki, but isn't the reason for it being colder in the winter because of the earth's 23.5 degree axial tilt?

I remember the number because I have been simultaneously 16 years old and discordian at one point.

[Reginald Ret]

interesting, so if all else is the same then the hottest time of year is hotter on the southern hemisphere.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

interesting, so if all else is the same then the hottest time of year is hotter on the southern hemisphere.

That is why Australia sucks.

[Triple Zero]

Now I want to test myself.  I haven't checked wiki, but isn't the reason for it being colder in the winter because of the earth's 23.5 degree axial tilt?

I remember the number because I have been simultaneously 16 years old and discordian at one point.

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG NO

no it's because of weather phenomena. convection winds flow around the earth in periodical movements, taking warm and cold air with them, like El Nino. so when the cold air flows to the northern hemisphere, this therefore happens in our winter months, and it gets colder.

conversely it gets hotter on the southern hemisphere and vice versa.

[Cain]

Lets all get drunk tomorrow and celebrate! 

For those uninitiated, Perihelion is the day the earth passes along it's ellipse closest to the sun,

Uh-oh.  My scientific know how, gleaned from watching 2012, tells me this means the earth has a high chance of blowing up today.

[Kai]

Now I want to test myself.  I haven't checked wiki, but isn't the reason for it being colder in the winter because of the earth's 23.5 degree axial tilt?

I remember the number because I have been simultaneously 16 years old and discordian at one point.

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG NO

no it's because of weather phenomena. convection winds flow around the earth in periodical movements, taking warm and cold air with them, like El Nino. so when the cold air flows to the northern hemisphere, this therefore happens in our winter months, and it gets colder.

conversely it gets hotter on the southern hemisphere and vice versa.

Um no....it's the axial tilt. More direct sunlight in the summer months and less in the winter. Felix was right.

[Triple Zero]

Um you can't have an "axial tilt". The Earth's a sphere, remember? If you "tilt" a sphere, it's still the same sphere as you can't tell the difference.

So obviously seasons have to come from something else.

Shows how smart you are, mr scientist person.

[Kai]

Um you can't have an "axial tilt". The Earth's a sphere, remember? If you "tilt" a sphere, it's still the same sphere as you can't tell the difference.

So obviously seasons have to come from something else.

Shows how smart you are, mr scientist person.

First, the earth isn't a perfect sphere, it's an oblate spheroid. The axial spin makes it bulge at the equator. Incidentally, as the rotation speed slows due to tidal friction with the moon, the bulge will lessen, causing tectonic shifting. A small percentage of earthquakes each year are caused by this "bulge lessening".

Second, the earth doesn't have a homogeneous surface, there are continents and oceans and stuff, which are (at least in the short term) generally fixed in location. Therefore, an axial tilt can and does visibly exist. The important part of this is not the tilt in isolation, but in relation to the sun. The curve of the earths surface means that light doesn't hit every part of the earth directly or evenly. Direct sunlight has more thermal potential than sunlight at an angle (which is why it's cooler in the morning and hotter at midday), so times of the year where sunlight hits the earth directly are warmer than indirectly. In the northern hemisphere, the axial tilt means more direct sunlight between the months of april and september, therefore it is warmer, the time of year we have summer. This is switched in the southern hemisphere, which receives more direct sunlight between the months of october and march, their summer.

[Golden Applesauce]

Um you can't have an "axial tilt". The Earth's a sphere, remember? If you "tilt" a sphere, it's still the same sphere as you can't tell the difference.

So obviously seasons have to come from something else.

Shows how smart you are, mr scientist person.

]And if you ask me why, why, Kai, is it cold in the winter if the earth is /closest/ to the sun, then I will kill a motherfucker.  :argh!

Hahaha, this lady came up to me while I was eating lunch at school, wanted to ask me a question.  The question was "Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?"  She was in the school of education, doing research on students' misconceptions, and apparently no one else had come up with the right answer.

I was TAing a special section of Conceptual [math-free] Physics, in which all the students were education majors, last semester.  You'd think that education majors would have a general love of teaching and therefore of learning.  You'd be wrong.

Best quote: "We don't need to know this stuff, we just have to be able to teach it."   

[Kai]

Ugh.

Wholly beautiful and wholly ugly, I say again.

[Reginald Ret]

congratulations 000 on succesfully trolling Kai.