Can you tell time by using shadows?

Materials:

·  Meter stick- Peg stands – Clock

·  Outline the peg stand with a piece of chalk once you have found an area that will get sunlight all day. Inside the box you made with chalk mark the number of the peg stand.

·  Every ½ hour we will measure the length of the shadow. This will continue through out the day.

Record your peg stand number. ______

Time / Length / Time / Length
1 / 8
2 / 9
3 / 10
4 / 11
5 / 12
6 / 13
7 / 14

Graph (Length of Shadow vs. Time)

  1. What trend do you see? ______
  2. Why does the shadow change length? ______
  3. What time of day was the shadow the longest? ______
  4. Why?______
  5. What does this tell you about the location of the sun at this time? ______
  6. What time of day was the shadow the shortest? ______
  7. Why?______
  8. What does this tell you about the location of the sun at this time? ______
  9. Do you see a relationship between the length of the shadow and the altitude of the sun? (YES –NO) Explain______
  10. When the sun is at its highest altitude, we call this time LOCAL NOON. (Local time is the time measured using the sun, not clocks or watches). How is local noon related to the length of the shadow made by the sticks? ______
  11. About when was local noon? ______
  12. Using a newspaper determine the sunrise and sunset time. How long is the day? ______hr ______min
  13. How much time is there between sunrise and local noon? ______
  14. How much time is there between local noon and sunset? ______
  15. How do these intervals of time compare? ______
  16. From this information, what can you say about the motion of the sun across the sky? ______
  17. Ask to see diagram 3 and 6 from the test.

Can you tell time by using shadows?

Materials:

·  Meter stick- Peg stands – Clock

·  Outline the peg stand with a piece of chalk once you have found an area that will get sunlight all day. Inside the box you made with chalk mark the number of the peg stand.

·  Every ½ hour we will measure the length of the shadow. This will continue through out the day.

Record your peg stand number. ______

Time / Length / Time / Length
1 / 8
2 / 9
3 / 10
4 / 11
5 / 12
6 / 13
7 / 14

Graph (Length of Shadow vs. Time)

1.  What trend do you see? The shadow starts out long and gets shorter then grows again

2.  Why does the shadow change length? The sun changes its position (altitude)

3.  What time of day was the shadow the longest? Early Am Late Pm

  1. Why? Sun has low altitude in the sky
  2. What does this tell you about the location of the sun at this time? Low in the sky

6.  What time of day was the shadow the shortest? NOONISH

  1. Why? Sun is high in the sky
  2. What does this tell you about the location of the sun at this time? Sun is high in the sky

9.  Do you see a relationship between the length of the shadow and the altitude of the sun? (YES –NO) Explain When the sun is low in the sky long shadow)( when the sun is high in the sky you find short shadows)

10.  When the sun is at its highest altitude, we call this time LOCAL NOON. (Local time is the time measured using the sun, not clocks or watches). How is local noon related to the length of the shadow made by the sticks? Local noon the shadow is shortest the sun is at max altitude

  1. About when was local noon? ______
  2. Using a newspaper determine the sunrise and sunset time. How long is the day? ______hr ______min
  3. How much time is there between sunrise and local noon? ______
  4. How much time is there between local noon and sunset? ______
  5. How do these intervals of time compare? equal
  6. From this information, what can you say about the motion of the sun across the sky? Earth rotates (sun appears to rise in east set in west)
  7. Ask to see diagram 3 and 6 from the test.

Diagram 1