Shadows
Physics · Early Years · The School
What makes a shadow
Stand with your back to the sun. Look at the ground. There is a dark shape. That is your shadow. Light cannot go through your body. It gets blocked, and a dark patch is left on the ground behind you.
No light, no shadow
Go inside a dark room. Where is your shadow now? It is gone! A shadow needs light to start with. No light means nothing to block, so there is nothing there to see at all in the dark room.
Big shadow, small shadow
Stand close to a lamp and look at your shadow. Now stand far away and look again. The shadow changes size. Move closer to the light and your shadow grows bigger. Move away and it shrinks down small again.
Your shadow all day
In the morning, your shadow is long. At midday, it is short. In the evening, it grows long again. The sun moves slowly across the sky all day, and your shadow moves and changes shape with it too, without you doing anything at all.
Shadow shapes on a wall
Try making shadow shapes on a wall with a torch. Hold your hand close to the torch and its shadow grows huge. Hold your hand far from the torch, close to the wall, and the shadow shrinks down small again.