Explore the Earth's orbit around the sun by exploring your shadow! All you need is chalk, the hula-hoop is optional :)!
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1. Head outside and pick a nice sunny spot where you can use your chalk! Put a hula hoop on the ground and stand in the center of it. Place your hands above your head like the hands of a clock. Have a parent, sibling or friend draw the outline of your shadow with chalk! |
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2. Record the time of day on you shadow. Go and play for at least 1/2 an hour! |
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3. When some time has passed return to the same spot and repeat the steps outlined in above. What do you notice? Did the shadow move, grow, change? |
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4. When tracking the sun throughout the day, you may think that it makes a trip through the sky following a certain path; this is not actually the case. Our earth is the item that is moving or rotating on a certain path! The sun isn’t moving, we are! The earth rotates on its axis which creates a “solar day.” A solar day is a time it takes the Earth to make a single rotation on its axis with respect to the sun. Due to this rotation, it appears that the sun moves through the sky based on the time of day. Early Egyptian astronomers noticed the same thing about the sun and created a device that could track the sun’s “movement” to accurately tell time. The name of this device is a sundial. A sundial is an instrument that tells time by using the position of the sun. Description from: Clearway Community Solar |
