Lesson Plan #4     http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Stargaze/Lsundial.htm

(2A) The Sundial     

An introduction to the sundial, its design and use.

Part of a high school course on astronomy, Newtonian mechanics and spaceflight
by David P. Stern, Code 695, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
u5dps@lepvax.gsfc.nasa.gov or audavstern@erols.com

This lesson plan supplements: "The Sundial," section #2a: on disk Sundial.htm, on the web
          http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sundial.htm
Template of a sundial: on disk Sfigs/Sdial3.gif, on the web
            http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sfigs/Sdial3.gif

"From Stargazers to Starships" home page and index: on disk Sintro.htm, on the web
          http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sintro.htm


Goals: The student will

  • Know the design, principle and orientation of a sundial, the type with a gnomon pointing towards the pole of the heavens.
  • Construct a model sundial from paper.

Terms: Stories and extras: The historical reason for the "clockwise" direction of the hands on a clock.

    Start asking the class--does anyone have a sundial in the garden, or seen one in a public place? How well did it work?
   Some tourist shops--e.g. in Valley Forge Park, Pennsylvania--sell folding pocket sundials, mounted on top of a magnetic compass. Why the combination, can anyone guess? (Because the pointer--the "gnomon"--must be directed northward for the dial to work).

    After this, present the material. The questions below may be used in the presentation, the review afterwards or both

    At a suitable time (as part of the lesson, or afterwards) have the students construct paper sundials. Distribute templates, preferably copied onto construction paper. To make the copies, feed the sheets to a xerox machine one by one, by hand: feeding the machine from a stack could jam it. Instructions are found on the "Stargazers" site, but for the convenience of the students, printed copies should also be distributed.
    Students should have scissors available, also rulers and ballpoint pens, for scoring along the broken lines. Have a few extra templates ready, for students who spoil theirs by incorrect cuts. Students with shop skills may want to build some from more durable materials and perhaps to their own designs.

Guiding questions and additional tidbits
(Suggested answers in parentheses, brackets for comments by the teacher or "optional")

-- How does the shadow of a flagpole appears to move across the ground, in the continental US or in Europe?

    On average, the Sun rises in the east, crosses south at noon, and sets in the west. The shadow therefore points to the west in the morning, north at noon and to the east in the evening.

-- Does the shadow move clockwise or counterclockwise?
    Clockwise (try it!), and that is--according to some opinions--why the hands on a clock are made to move that way, too.

    The shadow varies with the season of the year--that will be discussed at a later time.

-- Will the sundial you build work anywhere ?
    No. Only if it is pointed at the pole of the heavens can it work equally accurately at all seasons. The sundial cut out here is designed to work at latitude 38°, corresponding to the middle of the continental US.

-- A visitor to an equatorial country saw a strange sundial which the natives constructed out of 3 water pipes--a horizontal one held at its ends by two vertical ones [Draw it on the board as you describe it]. The vertical support pipes were embedded in a concrete pavement, and painted on the concrete were marks for the hours. The time was read off from the position of the shadow of the horizontal bar. Would such an arrangement work?
    Yes. The horizontal pipe is the gnomon, pointing at the Pole Star. On the equator the pole star only appears on the horizon, so a horizontal gnomon is appropriate.

-- I compared my watch to a sundial in a public park, and the two disagreed. What might be the reasons?
  • (a) Your watch is set for daylight saving time
  • (b) The sundial is incorrectly aligned
  • (c) the sundial is correctly aligned to north, but is located at the edge of a time zone. For convenience, local time is averaged in hourly time zones: these may not give the exact local time.
  • (d) A discrepancy of a few minutes exists, the "equation of time", due to the uneven motion of the Earth in its orbit.

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Author and curator: David P. Stern, u5dps@lepvax.gsfc.nasa.gov
Last updated 28 July 1999
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