Lengths of Shadows
How do shadows change throughout the day?
Goal:
Goal:
Jamal noticed that shadows looked different at different times of the day, so he decided to do an investigation. He found a stick and a sunny part of his yard, and he put the stick in the ground. He sketched, measured, and noted the direction of the shadow in the morning, around noon, and again in the evening. Look at his data in the table below.
| Time of Day | Traced Shadow |
Length of Shadow | Direction of Shadow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning |
|
15 inches | pointing to the right |
| Noon |
|
2 inches | pointing down |
| Evening |
|
13 inches | pointing to the left |
Jamal wants to use a bar graph to represent the length of the shadow at different times of day.
Sketch a bar graph that represents the data from the table. Once you’re done, click the button below to see how your graph compares.
Your graph should look like this.
A bar graph with shadow length in inches on the y-axis and time of day on the x-axis, with three bars. The first bar on the left side is above the morning label and extends to 15. The middle bar is above the noon label and extends to about 2. The last bar on the right side is above the evening label and extends to about 13.
Question
How does Earth's rotation cause the shadows to change throughout the day?