SHADOWS

People have always been fascinated by shadows because, although they are always with us, we can never catch them or touch them. For this reason, shadows are often found in games and stories. Do you remember the story of Peter Pan losing his shadow?

But what is a shadow’ It is the dark area caused by an opaque object blocking light. It has the same shape as the opaque object. Shadows appear because light travels in a straight line and cannot go round obstacles.

Shadows can gradually change shape. They get longer when the angle between the light source and the opaque object increases. They get shorter when the angle decreases.

Try this experiment: darken a room by turning off all the lights and closing the curtains. Then, turn on a lamp or a torch and put your hands close to the light source. Move your hands farther away to see how their shadows change shape.