How does a change in the Earths tilt result in more/less energy received from the sun?
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The change in tilt determines at what angle the sun hits certain parts of the Earth. The more direct the sun rays, meaning the sun is higher in the sky shinning straight down, the more effective it becomes at heating the area. The more indirect, meaning that the sun shines at an angle, the less effective.
You can test this yourself with a powerful flashlight using a traditional incandescent bulb. If you hold it directly above your skin shining down, it will feel warm. If you shine it at an angle, you might not feel anything.
You’ll have to be more specific. The planet as a whole gets the same amount of energy no matter the axial tilt, but different regions of it would get more or less sunlight depending on how direct the angle is.
Two things:
* time of sunlight
* intensity of sunlight
The most noticeable effect of Earth’s tilt is the difference in the length of daylight between hemispheres on the solstices. When the sun shines, Earth’s surface heats up, as does the atmosphere just above it. When the sun does not shine, Earth’s surface cools off. In Summer, the surface spends more time heating up than cooling off. In Winter, the surface spends more time cooling off. Most of the energy received depends on the duration of sunlight the surface receives from season to season.
Another consequence of Earth’s tilt is the maximum height above the horizon the sun reaches. The higher the sun, the less of its light is scattered by Earth’s atmosphere. The effect is not as intense as differences in time between day and night, but is not insignificant.
A clarification on tilt. The tilt does not change, it remains the same throughout the year – which is why the North Star is always above the North Pole.
Relative to the plane of our orbit around the Sun the Earth’s axis is tilted about 23 degrees.
The Earth’s axis of rotation (tilt) does change very slowly over the course of hundreds/thousands of years, that is called precession.
It doesn’t. Why do you think it does?
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