Sun Trajectory Lab

      When the sun makes its way across the sky everyday, its path isn't always the same. Sometimes it rises in the Southeast and sets in the Southwest or the Northeast and Northwest, it all depends on the season and time of the year. This phenomenon is due to the Earth's tilt. The Earth, which rotates around the Sun on its axis, does so at a 23.5 degree angle. The axis tilt is what causes the different seasons and the lengths of days.

       Right now, since it is winter, the sun rises in the Southeast and sets in the Southwest in the Northern Hemisphere. Tracking this path is actually pretty easy. One possible method is the one used in this lab. All it requires is a stick, a ruler, and a compass. First, the stick must be placed in the ground and measured. This stick is now our reference. Then the shadow of the stick is also measured, along with the direction of the sun. We repeat this process a couple of times a day. Once we have all of this data, we can find the tangent of the angle the sun and stick create, which would be the stick's height divided by the shadow's length. By plotting this data on a radial graph, we have a nice visual of the sun's path. There is also an electronic version of this process called suncalc.net. On suncalc you can chose any day and location, and it will give you a visual of the Sun's path.
     At Mercer University, the Sun's path may not be noticeably different from month to month. However, some places around the world experience extreme changes in the sun's path from season to season. For this reason, places like Alaska will have sunlight all summer long and darkness all winter. This magnificent occurrence is so interesting and easy to track.

Here is the data collected by Olivia Williams:

Height	Length	Tangent	Degree	Direction
27	32	0.844	40	N
27	49	0.551	29	NE
27	134	0.202	11	NE
27	100	0.27	15	NW
27	56	0.482	26	NW
27	35	0.771	38	NW