The basketball court in the College of Engineering campus, Guindy, was bustling with activity on Wednesday morning. Not for a sports event.
A small group of students laid out sheets of paper and assembled various objects to conduct experiments on ‘Zero Shadow Day’.
“On Zero Shadow Day, the sun is exactly overhead and when the position is such, you will not be able to see your shadow at noon,” explained Neeraj Ladia, an astronomer and city head of SPACE Chennai, which organised the event.
Students of Anna University participated and conducted experiments where they used vertical objects to measure the decreasing shadows.
Places between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn have Zero Shadow Day twice a year and on Wednesday, Bengaluru and Mangalore too along with Chennai had a zero shadow day as they are located on the same latitude. From 11.30 a.m., the students recorded the decreasing length of the shadows of vertical objects placed on a flat surface and at 12.07 p.m, the shadow length recorded was almost zero. “We’ve placed other vertical objects such as hollow pipes on a raised surface to observe the shadow patterns. On all other days, the shadow of the pipe will be longer but today, it is only a circle,” Mr. Neeraj said.
The Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre campus where the Birla Planetarium is located too had several students participate in observing the Zero Shadow Day.
