• Did you think of a question that could be studied, or make an observation that was interesting or unexpected? You should send it to the Question board!

1. The shadow of the bottom of the flag pole is very sharp edged, while the shadow of the top end is rather fuzzy. Why? It might help to draw a picture showing how the sun and flag pole make a shadow.
2. On a summer day sitting under a leafy tree you can feel the wind blow and hear the birds sing, and get hit by raindrops if it is raining -- but you can't see the sun. What is the difference between sun light and those other things that account for the difference?
3. If you wanted to study something very tiny, like a pinhead, could you use the technique of Shadows #2 activity to produce a large shadow of it? Why or why not?
4. Explain the appearance of shadows that are made by direct sunlight, or on a very cloudy day, and by various kinds of lights indoors.
5. On the ground under a tree you may see a few spots of sunlight. Frequently they are round disks. Why?
6. How is the size of the shadow of a cloud related to the size of the cloud? Draw a picture of the cloud and its shadow as part of your answer.

This is the end of this section. (Check this box )   The next section is about diffraction gratings and the spectrum. However, there are several more pages you might want to look at sometime:

• There are more shadow activities in the manual.
• Using the manual Here we discuss how to use the manual and the activities in the classroom.
• Shadows in the classroom These are notes about setting up the materials in the classroom
• More activities Other things you or your students might like to try