The Earth, Sun and Shadows
When my oldest son was small, he and I were walking to the park on a very hot sunny day. He told me, “Don’t worry Mama, the sun will move before long”. I was amazed that he was able to connect the position of the sun with the brightness and heat of that time of day, at such a young age. It was somewhat true that the sun would move, but actually it’s the position of the earth that actually moves the greatest. The sun is made up of gaseous plasma, so it’s not a solid planet like the earth, and rotates on its axis once a month. It takes Earth only 24 hours to make a full rotation.
If you have ever noticed, shadows cast in the morning and evening times are very long since the sun is at its lowest point. Shadows cast by the sun midday are extremely short since the sun is at its highest point of the day. It was this basic knowledge that helped to develop the concept of time, and the invention of the sundial.
Here is a time lapse image, with chalk drawn outlines showing the progression of shadows and time.
As far as art goes, not only have artists used shadow to add a third dimension to their artwork, but they utilized shadows in the form of shadow puppetry. The shadow puppet theater has been in use over a thousand years. In Indonesia puppets are stylized into characters of heros.
Try making some shadow puppets of your own. You can create your own play as well, having various scripts for the different characters.
Have Fun!
