Suitable For
Grade 7
Difficulty
1
Time Required
<12 Hours
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
There are many fascinating ways of determining the height of a tall building without having to physically measure its facade. Think of some ways to measure the height of your school building with relative accuracy and ask some of your friends to help. This science experiment is based on the general idea that tall objects cast longer shadows than short objects do:
Topics covered
Proportions
What will I need?
- YARD STICK
- TAPE MEASURE
- CALCULATOR
- PAPER
- PENCIL
Procedure (Method)
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
How does it work?
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
In this science experiment, you can calculate your school building’s height by using the proportion of a yardstick’s shadow length to its height. You have to measure both shadows as quickly as possible, after one another, since the sun’s position in the sky, and hence its shadow length, is slowly but constantly changing.
Since you know the length of the building’s shadow cast on the ground, and you also know that a yardstick of certain height produces a certain shadow length, you can determine your school building’s height with a little math.
Like the sound of it?
Why not check out the full worksheet in one of our popular e-books?
This particular science project can be found in any of the following Experiland e-books:
Experiland e-books contain detailed steps, including illustrations, to complete the science projects from start to finish.
