If a shadow of a tree falls on the west side, what time it is?

Question

If a shadow of a tree falls on the west side, what time it is?

Answer 1

Morning. The longer the shadow the earlier it is.

Answer 2

It is morning time,   before noon.

Answer 3

sunrise in winter

Answer 4

Morning.  (The sun is in the East.)  About 6:00 AM, actually.  The time may vary a bit due to where you are in your time zone, your time zone's geometry, and the rules for how your time zone works.

The only place this can't happen is precisely at the North or South Pole, because there is no East or West at those locations.  From the North Pole every direction is South, and from the South Pole every direction is North.

Exact poles notwithstanding, the sun appears in the eastern sky at all latitudes, but outside of the tropics is does so for only half of the year.

(In the arctic and antarctic regions the sun never sets in the summer time.  The sun keeps going around, just above the horizon, higher to the south and lower to the north.  I don't know why someone here is thinking that shadows can't fall to the west . . .)

Answer 5

It depends on the date of the year and the latitude where the tree is located. i.e.; Is the tree north of the equator, south of the equator or on the equator?

The shadow will NEVER fall due west if the tree is north of the Tropic of Cancer or south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

If you are talking in very general terms, it is between sunrise and midday. At midday the shadow will either be on the north side, the south side or non-existent depending on location.

I said "midday" rather than noon because it makes a difference whether you are using standard time or daylight savings time. It also make a difference where you are located within your time zone.

Reedsburg Wisconsin is 90° 0' 0" west longitude in the UTC - 6h time zone but it is far enough north that a shadow never falls due west at 6 am CST. The shadow always falls a bit north at 6 and it varies depending on the day of the year.

Answer 6

Orange