Because this is the Dope, I think one shouldn’t leave out the cyclical variation in day length, especially when offering such an elaborate explanation. Nor should solstices and equinoxes be omitted.
Unless it’s a regional thing, I’m pretty sure epitome is “eh PIT a me”: How to pronounce EPITOME in English
I always thought Malachai was “MAH luh kye”, but I don’t really know what that is, maybe a biblical name?
I mentioned it in the note on seasons being cultural, that the 4 seasons model is primarily based on day lengths. The equinoxes still fall in that category. But that’s not the only way civilizations have delineated seasons.
Seasons are a scientific fact. Astronomical seasons are defined by Earth’s position in its orbit and the tilt of Earth’s axis. Here’s an explanations from NASA Space Place:
Yes. Also the name of a character in that corn field movie. “He wants YOU, Malachai!” Also, I think Just_Asking_Questions was speaking about how he pronounced those words as a child. And “Siohban” is something akin to “Shuh-VONN”.
As to the OP, I can’t think of anything I should know the answers to but don’t. I’m quite sure that the things I don’t know the answers to are legion, but they’re not things I necessarily should know.
I knew about Bonn because I lived in Germany for three years during the eighties.
Yes… anyway… sorry for the hijack. Your point is that it’s the tilt, not the distance from the sun, that chiefly determines our seasons. Let’s leave it at that and forget my tangential aside. It doesn’t matter.
According to Google Siohban is pronounced Shih Vahn. Somehow I had the idea it was pronounced Sephan.
I think it’s the angles that matter more (though not necessarily due to atmospheric reflection). From Wikipedia:
Differing sun angle results in differing temperatures between lower and higher latitudes, and between winter and summer at the same latitude (although “winter” and “summer” are more complicated in the tropics.[a][4]
At fixed latitude, the size of the seasonal difference in sun angle (and thus the seasonal temperature variation) is equal to double the Earth’s axial tilt. For example, with an axial tilt is 23°, and at a latitude of 45°, then the summer’s peak sun angle is 68° (giving sin(68°) = 93% insolation at the surface), while winter’s least sun angle is 22° (giving sin(22°) = 37% insolation at the surface). Thus, the greater the axial tilt, the stronger the seasons’ variations at a given latitude.[4]
It’s one reason the poles are so much colder than the tropics, even when they have nearly 24-hour sun. (The reflectivity of snow also helps with this, so it’s kinda a feedback loop… the colder it gets, the more ice & snow form, the more gets reflected, etc. Or these days, the opposite way… the warmer it gets, the more the ice melts, and the more the earth absorbs, so the warmer it gets…)
Citation 4 leads back to an earlier NASA cite on the Milankovitch cycles. It’s a good read: Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles and Their Role in Earth's Climate - NASA Science
That’s the way I read them when I first ever saw them. No one without either having a knowledge of Irish spelling or knowing how it was pronounced in advance would get “Siobhan.” I first was familiar with the name “Malachi” because of actor Malachi Throne. (Our home wasn’t big on Testaments, either Old or New). And as far as I’m concerned “Epitome” should have three syllables. I don’t care that it had four in Greek. This is English. Unfortunately, it’s not a word that is often used in conversation, so I don’t see it gaining much currency among lexicographers.
I guess it depends. I’m the kind of person who wants to know that Thor appeared in Journey Into Mystery 83 rather than “Thor first appeared in 1962”
I only know this one because of actress Siobhan Cullen, who starred in the series Obituary on Hulu (I recommend it if you haven’t seen it). I had to look up the pronunciation of her name since I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce it.
So, until last year, I didn’t know how to pronounce it either.
I have a feeling most people don’t know the answers to the following:
“What is gravity?” Most people would say, “It is why things fall to Earth.” I suspect most people do not know it applies to any two masses, and not just between Earth and objects.
“Plants are mostly made of carbon. Where does the carbon come from when the plant is growing?” I suspect most would say, “From the dirt.” But it doesn’t come from the dirt. It comes from the air.
“How does water get to the leaves at the top of a very tall tree?” Most people have no idea. Sciency-types will say “capillary forces,” which is incorrect. Or they might guess the tree is pulling a vacuum, which is also incorrect; a perfect vacuum can only pull water up to around 34 feet. The correct answer is that the tree produces a negative pressure at the top of the tree, allowing water to be pulled up even hundreds of feet.
[snark]
“When geese fly in a V formation, one side is usually longer than the other. Do you know why?” The correct answer is because the longer side has more geese.
[\snark]
“How is the energy transferred in power cables?” Most have no idea. Smarty types, even EEs, will say the electrons in the conductors are carrying the energy. This is incorrect. The energy is carried by electric and magnetic fields moving as waves, the vast majority of which are outside the conductors. The wires are there to guide these fields, and the electrons are sorta along for the ride.
School generally does a decent job of explaining gravity; it’s more that students forget or tune out the details. Teachers could probably place more emphasis on the role of gases in plant growth, since that’s a point many people miss. Concepts like energy transmission in power lines or the idea of negative pressure, though, are more complex and harder for the average person to grasp and remember.
I always thought it was capillary action. What is negative pressure, if not a vacuum? I’m not be argumentative, I just never heard of negative pressure in terms that did not equate it with a vacuum.
Is there a good visualization of this? I never understood this either.
Also… if most of it is outside the conductor… how does cable shielding work? Why doesn’t the insulation block the fields?
But how does a tree create negative pressure? So far as I know, that mechanism is, in fact, capillary action. Though it’s certainly weird.
Oh, here’s one: What’s the primary excretory organ in the human body? Your first guess is probably wrong, and your second guess probably is, too.
It’s the lungs.
That’s a good one! I thought mouth, anus, and skin — all wrong!