Sun Trajectory Lab
This is position of the sun during the day. For our lab we
took the height of an object (opposite side) and measured the length (adjacent
side) of its shadow. This gave us the two sides used to find the tangent angle
to correspond with a specific angles. The opposite side is divided by the adjacent side and
this yields a number that is used to find the angle of the shadow and the
object from a given chart.
In these pictures, we are able to see the sun’s path. The sun’s path is the
position of the sun in hours of the day. This is due to the earth’s rotation.
On the specific day that I retrieved some data, I found the
sunrise and sunset times. This provides me with background for my collected
data.
Macon, Georgia (longitude W83.7, latitude N32.8)
Friday
5
April 2013 Eastern Daylight
Time
SUN
Sunrise 7:17 a.m.
Sun transit 1:37 p.m.
Sunset 7:58 p.m.
End civil twilight 8:23 p.m.
April 5th, 2013: The moon looked like this: Waning crescent: with about ¼ of the moon
visible.
MY DATA: started
on April 5th, but I had to collect data from other dates because of
clouds covering the sun.
7:30 AM Object
height: 51 inches. Shadow length is 550 inches. 51inches/550inches=.0927 =
5.296 degrees
2:30 PM Object height is 51 inches. Shadow length is 20.4
inches. 51inches/20.4inches=2.5 inches = 68.199 degrees
3:30 PM Object height is 51 inches. Shadow length is 48.3
inches. 51inches/48.3 inches = 46.560
degrees
7:30 PM Object height is 51 inches. Shadow length is 756
inches. 51inches /756 inches= .067 inches =3.833 degrees
Conclusion from data:
The morning measurements had very large heights in shadows.
This corresponds with the shadow heights in the evening (12 hours later). The
length of the shadow decreases as the hours pass. The length taken at 2:30 PM
was difficult to even find the shadow because it was so short. 3:30 showed a
bit less difficulty in measuring the height of shadow. Though, the height of
shadow at 7:30 PM was so long that I am not sure if I was able to get the
absolute measurements because it entwined and tangled amongst and between the
tree trucks.
Reflections:
I am very glad to have taken data from the first hour of
sunlight and the last hours of sunlight (a twelve hour duration). It showed me
the direction of sun position clearly and the how the heights of shadow
correlated to give me a better understanding of the sun’s effects due to its
positioning, also due to the sunset and sunrise times. During the middle of the
day, the shadow height decreased in inches by a lot, it was as is if the object
was absorbing its shadow as the day progresses, and then released as the sun descended.
Poem that I made up
for the observations:
Wake up empty
Daylight lives
Shadow is consumed,
Engulfed, swamped,
And sucked up from
the object.
Ah! But then comes
afternoon
Slowly releasing
And, evening comes to
allow for
A large exhale
Waits for another day
after night ends.