Question

How can you find the Sun's diameter based on a tree shadow?

Answer 1

I will divide the answer in steps:

1: Go beneath a tree where you can find a circular shadow of leaves on the ground. These shadows are called as Sunballs.

2: Measure the diameter of the Sunball.

3: Measure the distance from the Sunball to the leave from where this shadow is forming.

4: The ratio of Diameter of Sunball (d) to Distance of the Sunball (h) will give you the diameter of the sun (D) because this whole thing is same as the diameter of the sun to the distance of the sun to the leaves.

`Diameter = (Diameter of Sunball) / (Distance of Sunball)`
`D = d/h`

5: Just convert the values to `km` to get the correct value of the diameter of the sun.

You can also perform this experiment by poking a hole in cardboard and performing all the above steps.