The seasonal variations in the amount of solar energy that any place on the Earth receives are influenced by
- A.the speed of rotation of the Earth
- B.pollution
- C.cloudiness
- D.the inclination of the Earth about its axis
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, the inclination of the Earth about its axis. Because the axis is tilted and keeps pointing the same way as the Earth goes round the Sun, each place gets more sunlight in one half of the year and less in the other.
The Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5° from the perpendicular to its orbit, so its plane makes an angle of about 66.5° with the orbital plane. In June the northern hemisphere leans towards the Sun: the Sun's rays fall more directly and days are longer, so it is summer there. In December the southern hemisphere gets that advantage. The angle of the rays and the length of the day together decide the insolation, which is why the seasons come round each year.
A is wrong because rotation causes day and night, not seasons, and its speed hardly changes. B is wrong because pollution is local and has no yearly rhythm. C is wrong because clouds vary day to day and place to place, not in a fixed seasonal cycle.
Exam tip: tilt 23.5° + revolution = seasons; rotation = day and night.
Practice Questions
View allWhich one of the following is applicable to collision-coalescence process of precipitation?
- A.Clouds which do not extend beyond the freezing level
- B.Clouds which extend beyond the freezing level
- C.All types of clouds
- D.Cirrocumulus cloud
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Collision-coalescence is the way rain forms in warm clouds, whose tops stay below the level where water freezes. In such clouds all droplets are liquid.
Read the full explanation →Identify the type of drainage pattern on the basis of the given characteristics :
1. It represents the most common pattern of streams and their tributaries
2. It occurs in areas of uniform rock type and regular slope
3. A map, or aerial photograph, shows a pattern like the veins on a leaf— smaller streams join the main stream at an acute angle
Select the correct answer.
- A.Dendritic
- B.Radial
- C.Trellis
- D.Centripetal
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A pattern that looks like the branches of a tree or the veins of a leaf, formed on uniform rock with a regular slope, is dendritic.
Read the full explanation →The Research Design and Standards Organization is the R&D wing of which one of the following organizations ?
- A.Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
- B.Indian Space Research Organization
- C.Indian Railways
- D.Defence Research and Development Organization
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The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is the sole research and development wing of the Ministry of Railways. RDSO is headquartered at Lucknow.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following Indian States has recorded negative growth population as per Census 2011?
- A.Manipur
- B.Mizoram
- C.Tripura
- D.Nagaland
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Nagaland was the only Indian state whose population fell between 2001 and 2011; its decadal growth rate in Census 2011 was about −0.6 per cent.
Read the full explanation →Piecing together the puzzle of geologic time to create and analyze historical maps of the Earth is known as
- A.paleoclimatology
- B.paleogeomorphology
- C.paleolithology
- D.paleogeography
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Paleogeography is the study of the Earth's geography in the geological past, and its main product is a set of maps showing where continents, oceans, mountains and shorelines lay at different times.
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