Question

The tilt of Jupiter's rotational axis with respect to its orbital plane is 3°. If Earth's axis had this tilt, then the seasons on Earth

a. would be much more extreme.
b. would be much less extreme.
c. would be pretty much the same.
d. would occur much differently every year, depending on the alignments.

Answer 1

With a tilt similar to Jupiter's at 3°, Earth's seasons would be much less extreme compared to the current seasons experienced with Earth's axial tilt of 23.4°.

Step-by-step explanation:

If Earth's axis had the same tilt as Jupiter's, which is only 3°, the seasons on Earth would be much less extreme. This is because the axial tilt of a planet determines the intensity of the seasons it experiences, with smaller tilts resulting in milder seasonal changes. Earth's current axial tilt of 23.4° causes significant seasonal variation in temperature and day length, but with a tilt akin to Jupiter's, these differences would be greatly reduced. The answer to the student's question is that if Earth's axis had the same tilt as Jupiter's, the seasons would be b. much less extreme.