Eli5 the sun is always there blasting out heat, why do we have different seasons and why do we have massive heat waves now?
In: Earth Science
To answer your questions in order, the seasons are due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Instead of rotating straight up and down in relation to its orbit, Earth is tilted at around 23 degrees. This means that as it goes around in its orbit, there the sun hits the surface at different angles depending on the time of year. At the equator, the sun is usually almost directly overhead, which means that it gets the most direct sunlight, and the most thermal energy. Nearer to the poles, during Winter they get sunlight at a steeper angle, which means that it can only ever give part of its energy directly to the surface. The easiest way to think about it is to imagine the sunlight as a stream of small balls. If you are hit straight on by the ball, then it can impart more of its energy into you, and thus it hurts more. If you are hit at an angle, it has a higher chance of not hurting as much, because it only hits at a glancing angle.
Secondly, the reason why there are more heat waves now is because of an increase in greenhouse gasses. Basically, if you think of the atmosphere like a blanket, the greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide act like a thicker lining that traps in more heat. In the atmosphere, heat is energy and can be funneled into a large variety of processes, including making the temperature hotter, and fueling stronger storms.
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