Why does earth move on a tilted axis and not a straight one?
363234
Well, it seems like someone hacked into AskJeeves, because I became so curious about your question that I went to AskJeeves. \n\nAnyway, visit this page:\n\nhttp://www.askforkids.com/web?q=Why+does+Earth+move+on+a+tilted+axis%3F\n\nPerhaps it shall work on your computer. Whenever I click on the result, it visits the page temporarily and then suddenly goes to a different page, which seems to want to advertise, though it's under construction.\n\nGreat question!\n\nI personally believe that if the Earth did not use a tilted axis, it would not have electromagnetic fields across it. This would vary the different compositions of materials, and though I do not have very much knowledge about this, it probably would mean that humans could not survive, because humans use electromagnetic forces for various things.
740477
The earth is round and its gravitational pull draws us to its center.  Upside-down is really just pointing away from the core...from anywhere.
20309
I want to add more:\n1) Due to the distance to the Moon relative to the size of our planet, it doesn't really matter from which point on Earth you are looking at our natural satellite. You will see virtually the same part of the surface.\n2) The reason the Moon rotates around its axis at about the same time it rotates around the Earth is because it is tidally locked with the Earth. Tidal lock worked for billions of years to achieve the present effect, but it's still not perfect: the Moon slightly advances or gets behind in its axial rotation relative to its revolution around the Earth. So, over time, we are actually able to see around 57% of its surface, rather than just 50%.\n3) The Earth is not close enought to the Sun to be tidally locked by its gravity (even Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, isn't). So that's why the Sun-Earth relation is different.
320933
Two reasons:\n\nPrimary = spinning + gravity = natural inclination of the material to slowly reach equilibrium. Anything that is not "round" gets pulled/shifted toward the center of gravity (the center of the Earth). The spinning helps this process over billions of years.\n\nSecondary = weather. Erosion constantly smoothing out "bumps" (mountains).\n\nIf this is the best answer, please vote it the best answer. Thanks!
526017
The Earth's axis is tilted to make us facing closer to the sun a much longer time, getting more heat every day.  Thats why in winder the days are shorter, because we face away from the sun at a tilt.
610006
The Earth's axial tilt varies between 21.5° and 24.5° with a 41,000 year periodicity (currently decreasing: 24.049 in 3300 BC, 23.443 in 1973, 23.439 in 2000), while the direction of the tilt gradually undergoes precession, moving in a slow circle over a period of about 25,800 years. However, other factors may change the axial tilt of Earth.
182867
The basic observations were done thousands of years ago. THe ancient Greeks knew that the direction of the pole changes over time (also known as the progression of the equinoxes). Of course, it wasn't until recently that this effect was explained by the wobble of the earths axis. It used to be seen as just another cosmic cycle.
1168215
Neither, the axis it rotates on is a north-south axis. However, the earth is spinning west to east!\n\nPS I wish people wouldn't say it rotates left or right - its meaningless and incorrect. If you look at the Earth with the North Pole at the top it appears to rotate to the right, but if you look at the Earth with the South Pole at the top it appears to rotate to the left. Use east and west! It rotates to the east!
334932
The axis of the earth shifts seasonally.
85444
Earth rotates. Sun on one side.
215475
The Earth is rotating around an axis (called its rotational axis). Some objects rotate about a horizontal axis, like a rolling log. Some objects, such as a skater, rotate about a vertical axis. The Earth's axis is tipped over about 23.5° from vertical.\n\nHow do we define up and down in space? What would "vertical" mean? For the Earth, we can think of vertical as straight up and down with respect to the plane in which the Earth orbits the Sun (called the ecliptic).\n\nEarth's rotational axis points in the same direction relative to the stars, so that the North Pole points towards the star Polaris. Think of the Earth as a spinning top, tipped over to one side. Over very long time periods (thousands of years) the direction of Earth's axis slowly changes due to precession.\n\nThe Earth rotates around once in 24 hours - that's a rate of 1000 miles per hour!. The time it takes for the Earth to rotate completely around once is what we call a day. It's Earth's rotation that gives us night and day.\n\nThe combined effect of the Earth's tilt and its orbital motion result in the seasons
356220
Depends on your point of view. If you're hovering above the North pole, the earth rotates counter-clockwise. If you're hovering above the South pole, it rotates clockwise.
9991
To a first-order approximation the Earth is round.  This\nis due to gravity.  Gravity pulls with equal strength in all\ndirections; therefore any variations from a spherical\nshape will lead to gravitational forces that\nbring the shape back into that of a sphere.\n \nThis is without considering the rotation of the earth,\nhowever.  The rotation of the earth adds centrifugal\neffects, which cause the earth to bulge slightly at\nits equator and flatten slightly at its poles.\n(This is like twirling a rock on the end of a string\nand then letting go--the rock flies away from the\ntwirler.)  Because of these centrifugal effects, the\ndistance from the center of the earth to the surface\nof the earth is about 0.33% shorter at the poles\ncompared to the equator.
151358
The satellite has a straight rotation around the earth but most do not have the same direction of rotation as the earth. but a tilted rotation so that it passes from the northern hemesphere to the southeren hemesphere. combined with the earths actual rotation makes it look like the satellite zig zag
736398
The tilt of the earth on its axis. When it is tiled one way, the sun hits more directly. When it is tilted the other way, it is more spread out.\n\nAgainst what you may think, the earth is actually closer to the sun in the winter than in the summer.
7188
Actually, the earth isn't on a 35 degree tilt.  It is on a 23.5 degree tilt.
303384
The answer to your question is found in one fact: the earth's axis is inclined. If you imagine the earth's revolution about the sun as occuring on a huge flat disk, with the sun at the center of the disk and the earth at the rim, the axis is not perpendicular to the disk, but inclined from the perpendicular. The northern end of the axis, which sticks out of the earth at the north pole, always points to the same place in the sky as the earth goes about the sun. (Of course, the southern end of the axis always points to its own place in the sky, also.)\n\nYou can see from this that some of the time the northern end of the axis is tilted away from the sun (at the times that the southern end is tilted toward the sun) and some of the time the northern end of the axis is tilted toward the sun (when the southern end is tilted away). The northern end is most tilted away, and the southern end most tilted toward, on December 21. The northern end is most tilted toward the sun, and the southern end most tilted away, on June 21. That is why winter begins in the northern hemisphere and summer begins in the southern hemisphere on December 21. Summer begins in the northern hemisphere and winter begins in the southern hemisphere on June 21.\n\nAt other times the axis is internediary between most tilted toward and most tilted away.