Welcome to 

Welcome to our "Shadows Around the World" project.  We measure the length of shadow that is cast by a meter stick at Solar Noon.  Participants are welcome. You can do this on any sunny day at  Solar Noon.  After sharing this with your students, you can tell them about Eratosthenes, who will always be remembered for the calculation of the Earth's circumference circa 240 BC, using trigonometry and knowledge of the angle of elevation of the Sun at noon in Alexandria and Syene (now Aswan, Egypt).   A 220 cm shadow was cast by a 100cm stick at Solar Noon on 12/14/2010

A 231 cm shadow was cast by a 100cm stick at Solar Noon on 12/18/2010  See more pictures below

spring is coming, see my latest pictures below.

* 29 minutes past Solar Noon

From Alaska

**I posted my measurement on Facebook and got the following as a partial reply:

Math - the axial tilt of our fair planet is currently 23.4378°, so the Arctic Circle is at latitude ...66.5622°. Hutchinson High School is at 64.85° N, or 1.722° south of the point where the length of the shadow is infinite today. Your shadow, today, should be the arctangent of 1.722° = 59.7 meters from your 1.0 meter vertical - really serious bragging rights!!!
The 3° in my last post was a hint at the approximate error in the levelness of your measuring surface - should you wish to challenge your students. :-)

You can find your solar noon here

1. Calculate Solar Noon based on sunrise and sunset times you supply.
2. Calculate Solar Noon based on a specific longitude and date.

I have the solar noon for the Morton Arboretum listed below:

 

Longitude: Use decimal degrees. Enter east longitudes as positive numbers, west longitudes as negative numbers.
Solar Noon at Hutchison High School in Fairbanks Alaska

Solar Noon
Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:02:19 UT
Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:02:04 UT
Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:01:49 UT
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:01:34 UT
Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:01:18 UT
Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:01:02 UT
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:00:46 UT
Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:00:29 UT
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:00:12 UT
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:59:55 UT
Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:59:38 UT
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:59:21 UT
Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:59:03 UT
Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:58:45 UT
Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:58:28 UT
Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:58:10 UT
Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:57:52 UT
Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:57:34 UT
Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:57:15 UT
Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:56:57 UT
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:56:39 UT
Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:56:21 UT
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:56:03 UT
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:55:45 UT
Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:55:27 UT
Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:55:09 UT
Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:54:52 UT
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:54:34 UT
Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:54:16 UT

Frida measured the shadow of a meter stick at solar Noon on 12/21/2010	The Shadow measured 12.8 meters
Solar Noon at Hutchison High School in Fairbanks Alaska	We had snow and clouds in Illinois, but Friday had clear skies in Fairbanks and captured these beautiful pictures. You can click on this image to see the full resolution picture.
The solar noon shadow was measured at 163 CM on the last day of January 2011. That is 52 CM shorter since 12/18/2010	The days are getting longer and our solar noon meter stick shadow is getting shorter. This is the first day that we have had sunshine at solar noon since 12/18/2010.
Students in Avon, Connecticut measured this shadow 4 days before the Winter Solstice and 29 minutes after Solar Noon.  That may be close to a Solar Noon measurement on the Winter Solstice. The latitude at Talcott Mt is 41 deg 48' 39.37"N, our longitude is 72 deg 47' 55.34"W.   On June 5, 2011, the shadow cast by a 100 Cm stick had shrunken to 33cm.	On February 1-2, we got hit with 22.1 inches of snow.  I finally got down to the pavement on 2/4/2011 so that I could measure the solar noon shadow.  I rigged up a 2x4 to hold the meter stick pointing to the zenith.  The solar noon shadow was measured at 159 CM on the 4th day of February 2011. That is 56 CM shorter since 12/18/2010.  Will we get to 35CM on the summer solstice like we did in 1999? I posted Blizzard pictures here.
January 3, 2012, we had 1 cm of snow yesterday, but it is gone today.  The shadow of a 100 cm stick was 205cm.	We finally got some sun on the winter solstice in 2012.  I put my grandson to work after his Christmas play.  The clouds came just at we got to solar noon.  The shadow was over 200 cm.

The following page was posted in 1999

This project was conceived at the GLOBE Charleston workshop in October 1999.
Students will measure the length of the shadow that is cast at solar noon by a  meter stick (100 cm.) that is perpendicular to the ground. We are looking for students with different Latitudes to send us data.

 
1. Place a Meter stick perpendicular to the pavement and trace the shadow
          at  Solar noon.
2. Use a compass to record the direction that the shadow is pointing.
(It should be pointing north if it is Solar Noon.)
3. Measure the length of the shadow and e-mail it to Mr. Greg Lopatka
      at:     g.lopatka@comcast.net
        along with your latitude, longitude, date and time.
4. Answer the questions below.
 

1. Will Latitude make a difference in the length of the shadow?
2. Will Longitude make a difference in length of the shadow?
3. Why are we measuring at Solar noon?
4. What time of year will the shadow be the longest?
5. What time of year will the shadow be the shortest?
6. What time of day will the shadow be the shortest?
7. What direction will the shadow point to?

Check out the short shadow on the first day of summer!
 

Data Chart

Date	Universal Time	School	Latitude/Longitude	Length of Shadow	Direction of Shadow	City, State
10/26/99	17:33	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	137cm	North	Chicago, IL
11/04/99	17:33	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	150cm	North	Chicago, IL
11/15/99	17:33	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	171cm	North	Chicago, IL
11/23/99	19:46	Cascade Christian   Acadamy	47'24"N/120'12"W	238 cm	North	Wenatchee,      WA
11/24/99	17:34	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	193 cm	North	Chicago, Il
11/29/99	17:39	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	195 cm	North	Chicago, IL
11/30/99	19:49	Cascade Christian	47'24"N/120'12"W	254 cm	North	Wenatchee,      WA
12/1/99	17:40	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	198 cm	North	Chicago
12/18/99	17:55	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	216 cm	North	Chicago

12/16/99	19:56	Cascade	47'24"N/120'12"W	285 cm	North	Wenatchee
12/20/99	19:58	Cascade	47'24"N/120'12"W	312 cm	North	Wenatchee
1/5/00	17:56	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	219 cm	North	Chicago
6/21/00	17:52	Randolph	41'46"N/87'41"W	35 cm	North	Chicago

To E-mail the Web master, just click here! g.lopatka@comcast.net

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