Science – How does the distance between the object and light source affect the shadow created?

Friday 19 April 2024

Enquiry question: How does the distance between the object and light source affect the shadow created?

Scientific enquiry type (how we are being scientists): I can set up a fair test.

Predictions: What do you think? Have a go at home!

I predict the shadow will become ______ when we move the light source closer.

I predict the shadow will become ______ when we move the light source further away.

What will we need to answer our question?

What will we measure?

We will measure the width of the shadow.

What will we change?

The distance between the object and the light source.

What will we keep the same?

The distance between the object and wall.

Here’s our fair test. We drew around each shadow with a pencil and then measured the width with a ruler.

Our findings:

Conclusion: The larger the distance from the light source to the object, the smaller the shadow became