BIO 112 LAB Seasons: Tilt, Orbit, and Temperature

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PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ASSURE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATERIAL + THAT IT WORKS ON YOUR COMPUTER.

Ever wonder why we have seasons on earth? We will use this interactive tool (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. to investigate how the tilt of the earth affects things like temperature, day length, and the path the sun takes through the sky.

  1. Read the “Introduction” and “How To” tabs on the seasons interactive page.
  2. On the “Interactive” tab, watch a full orbit of the planet with the inclination set to the same as Earth. Record the maximum and minimum temperature (as given by the thermometer on the interactive – cold, cold 1/2, cool, mild, etc.) for Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Repeat this for inclination set to the same as Venus and then Uranus.
  3. Now pick an inclination other than 23, 2, or 86 degrees and repeat the process a fourth time.
  4. Turn in your observations of the relative temperatures for all four seasons for these 4 inclinations in a Word document (or similar) as part of your Lab 3 Report. You should include a data table summarizing the results of your 4 virtual experiments for the four seasons.
  5. You will discuss your analysis of these observations in Discussion Board 3 (below)

Rubric for Lab 3 Report (5 pts)

You should write a full lab report that includes: an “Introduction”, a “Materials and Methods”, “Results”, “Discussion” sections. This lab report should be a minimum of 300 words. Only the submission of a single Word document is required for this lab report. Please ensure that your document is either a .doc OR .docx file to ensure that we can easily access your file from both a PC and Mac computer.

Introduction (1 pt)

  • Describe what the term “tilt” means
  • Include characteristics of Earth, Venus, and Uranus
  • Include a hypothesis for the experiment

Materials and Methods (1 pt) (this should be written in past tense and in paragraph format. Write this section as if someone else needs to complete the experiment solely using the information you’ve given here)

  • What materials do you need to complete this experiment?
  • What exact methods did you use to complete this experiment?

Results (2 pts)

  • Inclusion of data table that displays all collected data (1 pt)
  • Brief summary of results in paragraph format (1 pt)

Discussion (1 pt)

  • How did tilt impact minimum and maximum temperature
  • Relate these changes to day length and the path of sun through the sky
  • Was your hypothesis supported or rejected?

1 pt will be deducted if lab report does not meet word count requirements and up 1 pt may be deducted based on clarity of writing and grammar mistakes.

BELOW ARE RESOURCES INCLUDED IN THIS LESSON:

Sea Turtle Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.