Science Photo of the Day
Looking at the shade under a tree, why does the light form circles?
Very good! The gaps between the leaves act as pinholes, producing an image of the sun on the ground. This is really a marvelous feat by the tree, placing leaves to capture all but the tiniest pinholes of sunlight. I have seen the ground covered with crescents during a partial eclipse. If a plane flies over, you can sometimes see the shape of the plane in the circles.
The gaps btwen the leafs
The gaps btwen the leafs
holes
It lookes that way from the sun coming through the holes in between the leaves.
the leaves are bunched
the leaves are bunched together small holes make the circler shape.
Sun Spots
Our class has several theories. Kyle says that maybe worms are eating holes in the leaves, and that is why there are circular sun spots. A majority of the class theorizes that the shadows are created by the small gaps of branches and leaves in the tree.
Mr. N's Class
sun
it works like a pinhole camera. if the holes between the leafs are small enough they will create a "sun" shape on the ground instead of the shape of the hole.
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