# Why do we have Summers and Winters?

An episode of [Science for Kids / Science's Not Boring: The Kids Science Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1896928296), 21 Jun 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624612/episodes/19360710-why-do-we-have-summers-and-winters.mp3

Did you know you're currently flying through space at 67,000 miles per hour on a giant spaceship called Earth?! Hold on tight as Mira and Finn bust the biggest myth about summer and winter! Most people think we get hot in July because Earth flies closer to the Sun. But guess what? That is completely backwards! In the middle of summer, we are actually 3 million miles FARTHER away! So, why do we sweat in July and freeze in January? It's all thanks to a clever 23.5-degree lean called axial tilt! When your half of the planet leans toward the sun, you get long, hot days and celebrate the summer solstice. When it leans away, you get chilly winter snow! Plus, discover what happens when a planet tilts too far. You won't believe the wild weather on the ice giant Uranus, where it spins completely on its side and a single winter lasts for 21 whole Earth years in pitch-black darkness! Grab your sunglasses and your warmest winter coat, and join us to uncover the amazing science behind our planet's perfectly tilted thermostat!

## Transcript

[0:46] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Science Is Not Boring by Kidopoly.com.
[0:49] SPEAKER_00: I'm Mira! And I'm Finn.
[0:52] SPEAKER_00: Hey Finn, did you know that right now, as we sit perfectly still in our chairs, we are actually flying through space at about 67,000 miles per hour.
[1:04] SPEAKER_01: Wait, what?
[1:06] SPEAKER_01: 67,000 miles per hour?
[1:09] SPEAKER_01: Why aren't we holding on for dear life?
[1:11] SPEAKER_01: Why isn't my hair blowing straight back?
[1:14] SPEAKER_00: Because the whole planet is moving together.
[1:17] SPEAKER_00: That is how fast Earth travels on its orbit around the Sun.
[1:21] SPEAKER_00: It is so fast we could cover the distance from here to the moon in just four hours.
[1:27] SPEAKER_01: Whoa, that is seriously fast.
[1:30] SPEAKER_01: So we are basically just passengers on a giant super speed spaceship.
[1:36] SPEAKER_00: Exactly! And as we zoom around our star, we are about to bust the biggest myth about summer and winter.
[1:43] SPEAKER_00: Today we are finding out why our days get so hot and why everything you might guess about it is completely backwards.
[1:53] SPEAKER_00: Backwards?
[1:54] SPEAKER_00: What do you mean by backwards?
[1:56] SPEAKER_01: Let's dive in and find out.
[1:58] SPEAKER_01: Okay, backwards how?
[2:00] SPEAKER_01: Because I know exactly how heat works.
[2:03] SPEAKER_01: When I stand near a campfire, I get hot.
[2:06] SPEAKER_01: If I step back, I get cold.
[2:09] SPEAKER_01: So summer must be when Earth flies closer to the Sun, right?
[2:12] SPEAKER_00: That makes total sense! But it is 100% wrong.
[2:17] SPEAKER_00: In fact, during July, which is the middle of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, Earth is actually at its farthest point from the Sun all year long.
[2:26] SPEAKER_00: Wait, farther?
[2:27] SPEAKER_00: How much farther away are we talking?
[2:30] SPEAKER_00: About 3 million miles farther.
[2:32] SPEAKER_00: In January, Earth is roughly 91.5 million miles away from the Sun.
[2:38] SPEAKER_00: But by July, we reach a point in our orbit called aphelion, and we are about 94.5 million miles away.
[2:46] SPEAKER_01: That is a huge difference.
[2:48] SPEAKER_01: So if we are 3 million miles further away from our giant space heater, why are we sweating in July?
[2:55] SPEAKER_00: Because of a magical little thing called axial tilt.
[2:58] SPEAKER_00: The Earth doesn't spin straight up and down.
[3:01] SPEAKER_00: Imagine a giant stick poking straight through the North Pole and out the South Pole.
[3:06] SPEAKER_00: That is our axis.
[3:08] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I am picturing the giant stick.
[3:11] SPEAKER_00: Now, as Earth travels its orbit, that axis leans over slightly, at an average angle of 23.5 degrees.
[3:18] SPEAKER_00: It is not straight up at all.
[3:20] SPEAKER_01: Like a spinning top that is losing speed and about to fall over.
[3:25] SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
[3:26] SPEAKER_00: But Earth doesn't fall.
[3:27] SPEAKER_00: It stays perfectly locked in that 23.5 degree lean all year long.
[3:33] SPEAKER_00: And that one clever tilt is the real reason we have seasons.
[3:37] SPEAKER_01: So the 3 million mile distance doesn't matter, just the lean.
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: You got it! A 3 million mile distance change is actually tiny compared to the total 93 million mile average distance.
[3:49] SPEAKER_00: The tilt is what really controls our global thermostat.
[3:53] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so how does leaning make us hot?
[3:56] SPEAKER_01: I don't get hotter when I lean my chair back.
[3:59] SPEAKER_00: Picture the Earth leaning toward the sun.
[4:02] SPEAKER_00: Because of that 23.5 degree tilt, the northern half of the Earth gets angled directly into the sunlight.
[4:09] SPEAKER_00: The light hits the ground straight on, packing way more heat and energy into every square inch.
[4:16] SPEAKER_01: Oh I see! It is like pointing a flashlight straight at a wall instead of hitting it at a weird slanted angle.
[4:23] SPEAKER_00: Exactly! The straight-on light is super concentrated.
[4:27] SPEAKER_00: And because we are tilted toward the sun, the sun travels in a much higher arc across our sky.
[4:33] SPEAKER_00: It stays up above the horizon for much longer.
[4:37] SPEAKER_01: So that is why summer days feel like they last forever.
[4:40] SPEAKER_00: Yes, that gives the ground hours and hours of extra time to bake in the heat.
[4:46] SPEAKER_00: The longest day of all is called the summer solstice, usually right around June 20th or 21st.
[4:53] SPEAKER_00: How long can a day actually get though?
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: Well, if you go way up north to Svalbard, Norway, the tilt is so extreme that the sun literally never sets.
[5:04] SPEAKER_00: For months during the summer, they have 24 hours of straight daylight.
[5:10] SPEAKER_00: 24 hours?
[5:11] SPEAKER_00: You could play baseball outside at midnight.
[5:15] SPEAKER_00: People actually do.
[5:16] SPEAKER_00: The sun just circles around the edge of the sky without ever dipping below the horizon.
[5:21] SPEAKER_00: It is called the midnight sun.
[5:24] SPEAKER_00: Imagine trying to go to sleep when it looks like noon outside.
[5:28] SPEAKER_01: I would need the thickest blackout curtains ever made.
[5:31] SPEAKER_00: They definitely use blackout curtains.
[5:34] SPEAKER_00: But that constant direct sunlight is what brings the warm summer weather to the freezing north.
[5:40] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so the tilt gives us a ton of direct sun in the summer.
[5:43] SPEAKER_01: But what happens in the winter?
[5:45] SPEAKER_00: Remember how Earth is flying at 67,000 miles per hour?
[5:49] SPEAKER_00: Six months after the summer solstice, we have travelled all the way to the other side of the Sun.
[5:55] SPEAKER_01: So we are looking at the Sun from a totally different spot in space.
[5:59] SPEAKER_01: We have moved halfway across the solar system.
[6:02] SPEAKER_00: Right! We have travelled about 290 million miles along our orbit path.
[6:08] SPEAKER_00: We are still tilted at roughly 23.5 degrees, pointing in the exact same direction in deep space, toward the north star.
[6:17] SPEAKER_00: But if we are on the other side of the sun.
[6:19] SPEAKER_00: Exactly! Because we are on the other side, that northern half of the Earth is now leaning away from the heat.
[6:27] SPEAKER_01: Oh, so now the sunlight is hitting us at a weird glancing angle instead of straight on.
[6:32] SPEAKER_00: You got it! The light is spread out and weak.
[6:36] SPEAKER_00: Plus, because we are leaning away, the sun barely rises above the horizon, so the days shrink.
[6:42] SPEAKER_00: Less direct light for less time equals a freezing cold winter.
[6:47] SPEAKER_01: Wait, if the top half of the Earth is leaning away from the sun, doesn't that mean the bottom half is leaning toward it?
[6:54] SPEAKER_00: Yes, you nailed it! That is why, when it is winter in New York, it is the middle of summer in Australia.
[7:01] SPEAKER_00: They are having beach days in December, while we are building slowmen.
[7:05] SPEAKER_01: That is absolutely wild.
[7:07] SPEAKER_01: The same planet, at the exact same time, having totally opposite seasons, just because it is leaning over a little bit.
[7:14] SPEAKER_00: And it is a very good thing our tilt is only 23.5 degrees.
[7:19] SPEAKER_00: Because if you look at other planets, a crazy tilt creates absolute chaos.
[7:24] SPEAKER_00: Take the ice giant Uranus, for example.
[7:28] SPEAKER_01: Why?
[7:28] SPEAKER_01: What happens on Uranus?
[7:30] SPEAKER_01: Is its tilt totally wild?
[7:32] SPEAKER_00: Well, instead of a gentle 23.5 degree lean, Uranus is tilted a whopping 98 degrees.
[7:41] SPEAKER_00: It basically spins completely on its side, rolling around the sun like a giant bowling ball on a cosmic lane.
[7:48] SPEAKER_01: 98 degrees?
[7:50] SPEAKER_01: That means its north pole points almost directly at the Sun.
[7:54] SPEAKER_01: Does that mean its seasons are super extreme?
[7:57] SPEAKER_00: Extreme doesn't even begin to cover it.
[8:00] SPEAKER_00: Uranus is almost 2 billion miles away from the Sun, so its orbit is massive.
[8:06] SPEAKER_00: It takes 84 Earth years to go around the Sun just once.
[8:11] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so its year is really long.
[8:13] SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for its seasons?
[8:15] SPEAKER_00: That means one single season on Uranus lasts for 21 solid Earth years.
[8:22] SPEAKER_00: 21 years?
[8:23] SPEAKER_01: You are saying winter lasts for 21 whole years?
[8:28] SPEAKER_00: Yep, and because fall and winter combine, one pole points away into deep space for 42 years of freezing, pitch black darkness.
[8:39] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't see a single ray of sunlight for four whole decades.
[8:44] SPEAKER_00: The temperature drops to minus 371 degrees Fahrenheit.
[8:49] SPEAKER_01: Minus 371 degrees?
[8:52] SPEAKER_01: My toes are freezing just thinking about that.
[8:56] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I will never ever complain about a cold January again.
[9:00] SPEAKER_01: Our 23.5 degree tilt is absolutely perfect.
[9:05] SPEAKER_00: It really is.
[9:07] SPEAKER_00: It gives us the perfect rhythm of warm summers and snowy winters to keep the whole planet thriving.
[9:13] SPEAKER_00: Alright, Finn, time for the quiz.
[9:15] SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
[9:16] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm ready.
[9:17] SPEAKER_01: Hit me with the questions.
[9:20] SPEAKER_00: First question.
[9:21] SPEAKER_00: How fast is Earth travelling around the Sun in miles per hour?
[9:29] SPEAKER_00: Next one.
[9:30] SPEAKER_00: How many degrees is Earth tilted on its axis?
[9:37] SPEAKER_00: Question three.
[9:38] SPEAKER_00: In July, is Earth closer to or farther from the Sun?
[9:46] SPEAKER_00: Here's number four.
[9:47] SPEAKER_00: What do we call the longest day of the year when a hemisphere is tilted most directly toward the sun?
[9:57] SPEAKER_00: Last question.
[9:59] SPEAKER_00: How long does one single season last on the planet Uranus?
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: Great job, let's see how you did.
[10:09] SPEAKER_00: The first answer is Earth travels at about 67,000 miles per hour.
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: For question 2, Earth is tilted roughly 23.5 degrees.
[10:21] SPEAKER_00: Number 3.
[10:22] SPEAKER_00: The answer is, we are about 3 million miles farther from the sun in July.
[10:29] SPEAKER_00: Question 4.
[10:30] SPEAKER_00: That longest day is called the summer solstice.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: And the final answer is?
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: One season on Uranus lasts for 21 Earth years.
[10:40] SPEAKER_00: I honestly cannot stop thinking about a 21 year winter on Uranus.
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: That is some serious dedication to the cold.
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: Me too.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, if you love learning about our perfectly tilted planet today, please leave us a five-star review.
[11:07] SPEAKER_00: It really helps other kids find the show and learn with us.
[11:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just scroll down on your podcast app and tap those five stars.
[11:16] SPEAKER_01: It is super easy.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: Oh, and don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: We've got tons of fun learning games and activities there to keep the discovery going.
[11:26] SPEAKER_01: And if you want a shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: We love hearing what you think.
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: See you next time on Science Is Not Boring.
[11:39] SPEAKER_00: Bye!

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