why do trees have rings for how old they are?

Question

I understand that how many rings they have is how old they are but why do they have and get the rings in the first place

In: 30

Answer 1

The rings are formed due to how trees grow and only in places with well-defined seasons. Basically, in winter, growth stops due to a lack of sunlight and leaves to gather said sunlight, and the tree goes into a sort of hibernation. Then, when spring comes around, the tree goes into overdrive and starts a bunch of new growth through the summer up until the fall. The light sections are where growth was fast, and the dark sections are where growth was paused. Since the seasons happen every year, there’s a ring for every year that passes. You can expose a tree to artificial conditions to grow more or fewer rings in a single year, but in nature, this is what happens.