PDA

View Full Version : Shadow Dancing - A Physics Question


nsxt2000
09-26-2007, 02:49 AM
Last year while driving my NSX with the top off and A/C going I was heading down the expressway. I noticed that each time I went under an overpass there was a brief but noticable drop in cockpit temperature. This was probably attributed to the short shadow of the overpass and perhaps the overpass altered the wind dynamics so that more cool air stayed inside the cockpit.

As I pondered that thought ( I must admit that it dosen't take much to distract my little mind) I started thinking about the shadow cast by the overpass. Does a shadow have thickness? Is the part of the roadway with the shadow ever so slightly thicker than the road with no shadow?

Does it have weight? Light has energy and energy has mass, so to block light is there less mass? As a rule we can't see air and yet it has volume and weight.

Sooo, if there is an intelect lurking on the site who can answer this physics question I would be curious about the answer.

Where is Carl Sagen when you need him???

AddLightness
09-26-2007, 06:39 PM
You are one troubled man aren't you? ;)

nsxt2000
09-27-2007, 02:18 AM
Just ask my wife - she will certainly agree.

Hey, maybe a shadow "adds lightness"...
-Mike S.

AddLightness
09-27-2007, 01:54 PM
I can see it now. Lotus develops an even lighter car throught the use of a parasol :D

nsxt2000
09-27-2007, 02:14 PM
Martin, you are a strange fellow...and I think I like you. Some people just take life to seriously. Please keep your post coming.
-Mike S.
P.S. - The parasol idea may not be as far fetched as it sounds. Remember that Mary Poppins could fly with hers...

nsxt2000
02-28-2011, 11:38 PM
Recently after tennis - and over a few beers - I brought up the question concerning shadows. Several of the guys are graduates of Gerogia Tech, a highly recognized engineering college. After some debate we all resolved that we aren't sure of the answer. (The more beer we drank the foggier the answer became - now that phenomen I understand).

So does anyone have any thoughts???
-Mike S.