Why do the tides rise and fall?

The water in the oceans is held close to the earth by gravity. But the moon and sun also have some ‘ Pull’ on the earth. The moon’s gravity affects water in the oceans. The sea water is pulled slightly towards the moon. Causing the bulge or high tide. ON the opposite the sea water is pushed away, causing a second bulge. High tides occur twice in about 24 hours.

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What are the dark patches that the naked eye can see on the moon?

The dark patches are large plains on the moon, which reflect less sunlight than other parts.

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Why does the moon keep the same face towards the earth?

When it first formed, the moon was probably spinning rapidly. But the earth’s gravitational pull has showed it down. The moon now turns its axis in the same time that it takes to orbit around the earth. This means that the same face is all ways pointing inwards, towards the earth.

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Why do glaciers appear?

A glacier is like a great river of ice. Glaciers appear when more snow falls than melts every year. The snow collects, squeezing the lower layers hard. It turns to ice and forms a glacier. Glaciers appear only in cold climates where there is snow all year round. This is either in high latitude ( The Arctic or Antarctic) or at high altitudes. Glaciers often appear first on the shady side of a mountain.

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Why do eclipses of the moon occur?

The earths cast a long shadow in to the slpace, away from the Sun. If the moon passes through this shadow, it grows dim. This can happen onl on ‘full moon, . When it is opposite the sun. However, since the moon’s orbit is tilted, it usually passes to one side of the shadow.
The earth shadow is not really black, since some sunlight filters reddish into it and the eclipse moon can last for over one and a half hours, if the moon passes through the shadow’s center. There is a faint outer shadow or ‘Penumbra’ around the central ‘umbra’.

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Why is Venus (Planet) so hot?

The atmosphere of Venus is about 90 times as thick as our own planet, earth. This thick atmosphere acts like a blanket, holding in the heat, that is why, the mid-day temperature is 4800c . This is often call “Green house effect. Since the air inside a greenhouse heats up for the same reason. Moreover, the atmosphere of Venus contains a lot of carbon-di-oxide, a gas which holds in heat very well.

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What do clouds comprise of ?

Clouds are masses of tiny condensed water droplets or ice crystal. Warm air can hold a great deal of invisible moisture compares to cold air. When warm air-cools, moisture is condensed into visible droplets. Clouds come in a great many shapes and sizes and at a variety of height low clouds below 2500 meters are stratus, Stratocumulus, Nimbostratus, cumulus and Cumulonimbus, medium clouds are Altostratus and Altocumulus and high clouds i.e. above 6100 meters are cirrocumulus and cirrostratus.

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