Physics – Popular Physics
Scientific paper
2011-11-23
Physics
Popular Physics
Text, plus 4 figures and 4 tables; to appear in vol.12 of the Communicating Astronomy to the Public Journal (December 2011)
Scientific paper
Happy end-of-the-year evening and night events provide good opportunities to explain the phases of the moon. The need for such moon phase education is once again demonstrated, through an investigation of illustrations on Santa Claus and Christmas gift wrap and in children's books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor Sinterklaas: The Netherlands and the USA. The moon on Halloween illustrations is also considered. The lack of knowledge concerning the physical origin of the moon phases, or lack of interest in understanding, is found to be widespread in The Netherlands but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Definitely incomplete, but surely representative lists compiling both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift wrap and children's books are also presented.
No associations
LandOfFree
Santa and the moon does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Santa and the moon, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Santa and the moon will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-377243