Question 11: What is the relationship between the direction in which a hemisphere is tilted and the season it experiences? : Answer 11 When a hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it experiences the warmer seasons (spring and summer). When a hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it experiences the cooler seasons (fall and winter). Question 12: How does the sun's position, in relation to the earth, correspond to our seasons? : Answer 12 When the sun is located above the celestial equator, the Northern Hemisphere experiences its warm seasons (spring and summer) and the Southern Hemisphere experiences its cool seasons (fall and winter). When the sun is located below the celestial equator, the Northern Hemisphere experiences its cool seasons (fall and winter) and the Southern Hemisphere experiences its warm seasons (spring and summer). Question 13: When earth's tilt is OFF, where is the sun found directly overhead at noon? Does this location change throughout the course of the year? If not, why not? : Answer 13 With the tilt removed from the earth, the noon sun appears directly overhead at 0° each day of the year. This location does not change because the earth's equator is always lined up with the sun. Question 14: What seasons do the hemispheres experience when earth's tilt is OFF? Why? : Answer 14 Neither hemisphere experiences seasonal variations when the earth's tilt is turned off. Since there is no variation in the angle at which the sun's rays strike a given location, seasonal temperature changes do not occur. Question 15: Explain the temperature variations noted in the Seasons panel when earth's tilt is OFF. : Answer 15 Since the earth's equator receives the most direct rays, this portion of earth is the warmest. Latitudes to the north and south of the equator receive rays that are less direct and are, therefore, cooler than the equator. Question 16: Does the earth's tilted axis of rotation explain the seasonal variations? Why or why not? : Answer 16 Earth's tilted axis of rotation is responsible for the seasons. The earth's tilt, relative to the sun, changes as the earth moves through its orbit. At a given location, the amount and intensity of sunlight vary throughout the year. When a hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, warmer temperatures result (spring and summer). When a hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, cooler temperatures result (fall and winter).