Day, Night, and Shadows

Everyday we see the sun go up in the morning, and then it goes down at night. When the sun goes down, the moon goes up. While we are sleeping, the moon goes down, and the sun goes up. Both the sun and moon give off light, and this light can be used to make shadows. The simple and fun science of day and night helps us tell when it's time to wake up and go to school and when it's time to go to bed and sleep. Let's first make sure we understand each of the words well.

Day

Day or daytime is when we can see the sun. The sun rises over the line we see in the east. This line is called the horizon. The goes up and moves across the sky and ends up on the other side of the horizon line, called the west. The time when we can see the sun, or when the sun is moving from east to west is called daytime.

Night

Night or nighttime is when we cannot see the sun. Instead of the sun we can see the moon and stars, but we don't see these every night. Just like the sun, we see the moon come up from one side of the sky and move to the other side. The time when we can see the moon or starts is called nighttime.

(But I'm sure you already knew all that! Did you know, though that it's really the earth that moves?!)

The Moving Earth

Even though we can see the sun and moon move across the sky, they aren't really moving, it's the earth that moves! The earth spins or turns around by itself and as a result it faces different parts of it towards the sun as it spins. This turning around is what makes day and night. If you stand in front of a lamp, the light shines on your face. You can call this daytime. Now turn slowly towards your left and you will see that the light is fading away. When there is no more light on your face, you call this nighttime. So the light never moved, you did, and that's the same thing the earth does!

Shadows

A shadow is what forms when something gets in the way of light. The thing that gets in the way of the light makes a dark shape where the light should be shining on. When we make shadow puppets with our hands, we put our hands in front of the light in order to block some of the light to make the puppet.

We can use shadows to tell the time or to determine how bright it is outside. When it's very bright, our shadows are very dark. When it isn't too bright, our shadows are lighter. Depending on where the sun is, we will have a different looking shadow. It can look long or short, or lean towards one side. The science project in the project section shows us how this happens when day turns to night!

Everyday we see the sun go up in the morning, and then it goes down at night. When the sun goes down, the moon goes up. While we are sleeping, the moon goes down, and the sun goes up. Both the sun and moon give off light, and this light can be used to make shadows. The simple and fun science of day and night helps us tell when it's time to wake up and go to school and when it's time to go to bed and sleep. Let's first make sure we understand each of the words well.

Day

Day or daytime is when we can see the sun. The sun rises over the line we see in the east. This line is called the horizon. The goes up and moves across the sky and ends up on the other side of the horizon line, called the west. The time when we can see the sun, or when the sun is moving from east to west is called daytime.

Night

Night or nighttime is when we cannot see the sun. Instead of the sun we can see the moon and stars, but we don't see these every night. Just like the sun, we see the moon come up from one side of the sky and move to the other side. The time when we can see the moon or starts is called nighttime.

(But I'm sure you already knew all that! Did you know, though that it's really the earth that moves?!)

The Moving Earth

Even though we can see the sun and moon move across the sky, they aren't really moving, it's the earth that moves! The earth spins or turns around by itself and as a result it faces different parts of it towards the sun as it spins. This turning around is what makes day and night. If you stand in front of a lamp, the light shines on your face. You can call this daytime. Now turn slowly towards your left and you will see that the light is fading away. When there is no more light on your face, you call this nighttime. So the light never moved, you did, and that's the same thing the earth does!

Shadows

A shadow is what forms when something gets in the way of light. The thing that gets in the way of the light makes a dark shape where the light should be shining on. When we make shadow puppets with our hands, we put our hands in front of the light in order to block some of the light to make the puppet.

We can use shadows to tell the time or to determine how bright it is outside. When it's very bright, our shadows are very dark. When it isn't too bright, our shadows are lighter. Depending on where the sun is, we will have a different looking shadow. It can look long or short, or lean towards one side. The science project in the project section shows us how this happens when day turns to night!