Noon Stick
Find your latitude with a stick and the sun. Go outside, measure a shadow, learn where you are on the planet.
1. When is solar noon where you are?
Your location stays in this browser and is not sent anywhere.
2. Measure
- Plant a straight stick in flat ground. Hang a stone on a string beside it to check it is vertical.
- Measure the stick from the ground to its top.
- Every 5 minutes through the window above, mark the tip of the shadow and measure from the stick's base to it.
- Note whether the shadow points north or south.
Your latitude
Why it works
At midday the sun is as high as it gets, and its rays are almost parallel everywhere on Earth. A tall stick and its shadow form a triangle: the longer the shadow compared with the stick, the lower the sun is in the sky. The sun's height depends on how far you are from the place it is directly overhead that day, so the shadow's length reveals how far north or south of that place you stand.
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