The earth isn't a perfect round shape. It's a bit squished at the top and bottom, like a slightly flattened ball. The very top part is called the North Pole, and the very bottom part is called the South Pole. They're like the Earth's top and bottom points. Imagine the Earth spinning around an imaginary line that goes through the North and South Poles. Even though the poles are similar in some ways, they're also different from each other. Now, let's dive into what sets them apart!
SOUTH POLE:
The South Pole is the very bottom point of Earth's imaginary line. It's in a big, cold place called Antarctica, and it's high up at about 2900 meters. A long time ago, a person named Roald Amundsen was the first to get there, in 1911.
In Antarctica, things are a bit different. Instead of day and night like we're used to, it has six months of light followed by six months of darkness. The ice there doesn't melt in the normal way, so if it melts, it might be because of things people are doing, like global warming. If all the ice at the South Pole melts, the water in the seas would go up by 60 meters. And guess what? Only penguins live there, not regular land animals.
NORTH POLE:
The North Pole is the tippy-top part of Earth's imaginary line. Up there, it's super cold, and there are big sheets of ice on the land. These ice sheets get smaller in the summer and bigger again in the winter. So they shrink and grow over time. In the winter, the ice covers an area as big as the United States! The North Pole has a thin layer of ice on top, like 12 to 15 feet thick. It's really sensitive to changes in the weather. People think that about half of the oil we still have is under the ice in the Arctic Circle.
Why is the Equator hot but the Poles are cold?
Firstly, the imaginary line we talked about is called an equator." Around the Equator, sunrays hit the ground at a 90-degree angle. Hence, more solar energy falls per unit area, thus making the equator hot. However, he sun's rays don't come straight down at the poles. Instead, they come at a slant. This makes them spread out, which means not a lot of energy reaches each spot. And guess what? This is one of the reasons why the poles are cooler. It's like nature has a special way of keeping those places chilly and magical.
Second, due to the Earth’s axial tilt. Poles don’t receive sunlight for many months of the year. This makes things even colder.
Third, the sunlight has to travel a really long way to get to the poles. On this journey, it bumps into a lot of stuff in the air, which makes it weaker and more scattered. This means less sunlight makes it to the poles.
Lastly, the snow at the poles reflects a huge amount of sunlight, way more than the land near the Equator does.
Chandrayaan 3: Why the South Pole Matters?
Now that we have this understanding of the cold poles on Earth, we can see that the moon's poles are even colder. This could mean there's frozen water on the moon's southern pole. Thankfully, the ISRO Chandrayaan 1 mission already showed there's some water on the moon. And now, with the recent Chandrayaan 3 mission landing gently on the moon's southern pole, we're going to explore that cold area more than before.
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| Credit: NASA |
The moon's south pole is really interesting to scientists, and for some very cool reasons! One big reason is that there's frozen water in dark places around it. Furthermore, there's a valuable treasure of Helium 3 waiting to be discovered.
Now, let's talk about why Helium 3 is so important. Helium 3 is like a precious gem from space. It's a rare kind of substance that could bring about incredible advancements for humanity. Scientists believe that Helium 3 could be used as a super-powerful fuel for future energy sources. Imagine a world where we could create clean and abundant energy without harming the environment. Helium 3 might hold the key to unlocking that dream. Not only that, but Helium 3 could also play a role in space travel. Some scientists think it could be used for fueling spacecraft on long journeys, making space exploration even more exciting and accessible. So, the idea of having rich reserves of Helium 3 is not just exciting, it's downright inspiring. It carries the potential to reshape our world, make our energy sources cleaner, and open up new horizons for space explorations.
Also, the south pole has special craters that are different from the rest of the moon. These craters are like secret hideouts because sunlight can't reach inside them.
According to NASA, it gets super-duper cold at the south pole—maybe even -205 degrees Celsius! Those craters are like time capsules. They keep things like hydrogen, frozen water, and other stuff from changing for a long, long time because of the freezing cold. Imagine if these craters could give us hints about how life started or about other places where life could exist!
All these things together make the moon's southern pole super exciting for scientists to explore. It's like a treasure tale of mysteries waiting to be discovered!
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