#2 - All about the Earth in a spin

1. The Earth is like a huge spinning top.
   It continues to spin because it was formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust. It does not spin straight up like a top but leans a little to one side. The Earth takes 24 hours to spin around once. We call this period of time a day.
   V Here is a photo of how it looks like and turns V

1. The Earth's spinning makes day and night.
   Each part of the Earth spins towards the Sun, and then away from it every day. When a part of the Earth is facing the Sun it is day-time there. When that part is facing away from the Sun it is night- time. Is the Earth facing the Sun or facing away from it where you are?
   V This may depend on where you live, but here is a photo of earth of all four sides around the sun! V

1. If you were in space and looked at the Earth from the side, it would appear to move from left to right.
   If you looked down on Earth from the North Pole, it would seem to be moving anticlockwise.

2. The Earth spins around its Poles.
   The Earth spins around two points on its surface. They are at opposite ends of the Earth. One is on top of the Earth. It is called the North Pole The other is at the bottom of the Earth. It is called the South Pole.
   The North and South Poles are so cold, they are covered by ice and snow.

3. As one part of the Earth turns into the sunlight, another part turns into darkness.
   It is morning when a part turns into sunlight, and evening when it starts turning into darkness.
   That would also mean that every part of the Earth would have morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night, depending on where they are at.

4. The spinning Earth acts like a magnet.
   At the center of the Earth is liquid iron. As the Earth spins, it makes the iron behave like a magnet North and South Pole. These act on the magnet in a compass to make the needle point to the North and South Poles.

5. The Earth moves around the Sun in a path called an orbit.
   It takes a year to make this journey. In that time it spins round 365 and a quarter times.
   So if you ask your friend how long is a year, they would usually respond to it 365 days, but the actual answer is 365 days and a quarter, and a quarter of a day would be 6 hours.
   If you ask a leap year, it would be 366 days and a quarter.
   V This photo also includes the real name of seasons that happen at a certain time at Earth! V

Here's a surprise for reaching the end of this post!

You can make your own compass without the need for modern machines.
To DIY a compass, you will need a bowl of water, a piece of wood, a bar magnet and a real compass.
Place the wood in the water with the magnet on top. Make sure they do not touch the sides. When the wood is still, check the direction of the magnet by pointing in with your compass, also placing it on a flat surface. It will tell you the direction of the North and South Poles.
V It should look something like this (Tools don't have to be the exact same thing) V

Now if you are lost somewhere, and have a map knowing how to use them, but don't have a compass, experiment the compass and find out which side of the magnet is north, south, east, or west!