If your shadow falls to the left when you are standing facing the North, what…

If your shadow falls to the left when you are standing facing the North, what time of the day is it likely to be?

Answer: A. MorningWhen you face a fixed cardinal direction, your left and right hands point to fixed compass directions, and a shadow always falls on the side opposite the…

  1. A.

    Morning

  2. B.

    Noon

  3. C.

    Afternoon

  4. D.

    Midnight

Attempted by 2 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A

When you face a fixed cardinal direction, your left and right hands point to fixed compass directions, and a shadow always falls on the side opposite the light source (the Sun). Facing North, your left hand points West and your right hand points East. Through the day the Sun appears to move from the East (morning) to near-overhead or the South (noon, Northern hemisphere) to the West (afternoon), and is below the horizon (no sunlight, hence no shadow) at night.

  1. Facing North: left = West, right = East.

  2. The shadow falls to the left, i.e. toward the West.

  3. A shadow points away from the light source, so the Sun must lie in the opposite direction of the shadow: the East.

  4. The Sun is in the East during the morning hours, so the time of day is Morning.

Checking the other options confirms this: at Noon the Sun is near the meridian, so shadows are short and fall roughly northward, not sharply to the West; in the Afternoon the Sun is in the West, so the shadow would fall to the right (East), not the left; at Midnight there is no sunlight at all, so no shadow can be cast in any direction. Only 'Morning' is consistent with a shadow falling to the left while facing North.

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