1.

Shadows

(a) One sunny day, some children use a rounders post to make shadows in their
playground.

ro u n d e rs p o s t

When light shines on the rounders post, a shadow forms.

Where does the light come from?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) The rounders post makes a dark shadow.

Tick ONE box to complete the sentence below.

The rounders post makes a dark shadow because it is...

opaque. smooth.

solid. transparent.

tall. heavy.
1 mark
(c) The children draw round the shadow of the rounders post every half hour
from 9:30 until 12 noon.

They measure the length of each shadow and record their results in this table:

Time (am) Length of shadow (cm)

9:30 146

10:00 130

10:30 116

11:00 109

11:30 106

12:00 103

What happened to the length of the shadow during the morning?

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 ......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(d) The children make a line graph to show the results from the morning.

Continue the line on the graph to show how the length of the shadow would change
between 12 noon and 2:30pm.

1 60
1 50
1 40
1 30
L e n g th o f 1 20
sha do w 11 0
(c m )
1 00
90
80
70
60
9 :3 0 1 2 :0 0 2 :3 0
a m n oon pm

T im e
1 mark

2. Lamp

(a) At night, Ben switches on the lamp in his room.

There is a shadow of the chair on the floor.

Explain how the shadow is formed from the light of the lamp.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Ben looks at the window, and sees a reflection of the lamp.

r e fle c tio n o f
la m p

la m p

s h a d o w o f c h a ir

Why is there a reflection of the lamp in the window?

Tick ONE box.

There is a reflection of the lamp in the window because the window is . . .

shiny hard

strong solid
1 mark

(c) Draw TWO arrowheads on the lines in the picture below to show how light travels to let
Ben see the reflection of the lamp.

2
 1 mark

3. Shadow

(a) Maria drew a picture of herself and her shadow.

She then found out more

about shadows and realised
she had made five mistakes.

She put a number next to

each mistake on her picture.

Mistake number 1 was to

describe that the Sun was in
front of her.

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Where would the Sun have
to be to make her shadow in
front of her?

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Mistake number 2 was to write that the shadow is reflected.

Explain how a shadow is formed.

......................................................................................................................

3
 ......................................................................................................................
1 mark

Look again at the mistakes labelled 3, 4 and 5.

(c) Describe what she should have drawn at 3 , 4 and 5 .

(i) At 3 she should have drawn

............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) At 4 she should have drawn

............................................................................................................
1 mark

(iii) At 5 she should have drawn

............................................................................................................
1 mark

4. Shadows

(a) Lucy makes a shadow of a puppet on a screen.

She investigates how changing the distance of the light from the puppet affects the size
of the shadow.

What equipment should she use to measure the distance of the light from the puppet?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) What unit of measurement should she use to measure the distance of the light from the
puppet?

Tick ONE box.

g C cm km N
1 mark

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 (c) What factor should she change as she carries out her test?

Tick ONE box.

where the children sit colour of the screen

brightness of the light position of the light

position of the screen the size of the puppet

1 mark

(d) What factor should she measure to collect her results?

Tick ONE box.

The height of the...

light shadow table

puppet screen reflection

1 mark

(e) What factors must she keep the same as she carries out her test?

Tick THREE boxes.

where the children sit colour of the screen

position of the puppet position of the light

position of the screen size of the puppet

2 marks
5. Light sensor

(a) The light in a classroom comes from different sources.

Tick ONE box below to show one possible source of light in a classroom.
plant mirror

radiator computer screen

1 mark

(b) Some children place a light sensor in the middle of the classroom.

The graph below shows how the light level changed over time.

5
 Describe what happened to the light level between two and four minutes on the graph.

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Describe ONE thing that could have happened in the classroom at six minutes to make
the light level suddenly change.

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(d) The children measure the light above a desk and below a desk.

George says: When the light sensor is under the desk, the reading on the sensor goes
down.

Write true or false next to each sentence below.

True or false?

The light source is above the desk. ..............................

The light cannot pass through the desk. ..............................

There is a shadow underneath the desk. ..............................

1 mark

(e) Complete the sentence using a word from the box below.

impermeable opaque transparent solid

The sensor reading is lower when it is below the desk because

the desk is ...................................................

1 mark

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6. Light

(a) The things below all make shadows in light.

Draw ONE line from each object to the shadow it could make.

Use each shadow ONCE.

1 mark

(b) Jenny investigates which materials allow light to pass through. She holds different
materials out in the sun.

Complete the table below to predict Jennys results.

Tick ONE box in each row. One has been done for you.
Material Some light No light
passes through passes through

tissue paper

glass

mirror

clear plastic

cardboard

foil
2 marks

(c) Jenny sits by a lamp.

A shadow forms.

She wants to see if any other objects will cause a shadow in a dark room. She turns the
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 lamp off. She sits in front of these objects instead of the lamp:

Television mirror plant night safety jacket

(i) Which ONE of these four objects will cause a shadow of Jenny in a dark room?

............................................................................................................
1 mark
(ii) Why does a shadow form when Jenny sits in front of this object?

Tick ONE box.

Because the object...

is translucent. reflects light.

is a light source. is transparent.

1 mark

7. Puppet show
m e ta l c r o w n
(a) Emma makes a stick puppet. She draws a face on it.

The puppet has a metal crown. When Emma shines a light on the puppet, the crown
looks shiny.

Why does the metal crown look shiny when the light is on it? w o o d e n s tic k

E m m a s p u p p e t
......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Draw TWO arrows on the diagram below to show how Emma can see the light shining
on the puppets crown.

2 marks

(c) When the light shines on the puppet, Emma can see a shadow of the puppet on the
wall behind.

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 Why does a shadow form behind the puppet when the light shines on it?

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark
(d) Which of the following shows the correct shadow of Emmas puppet?

Tick ONE box.

1 mark

8. Sun and Light

This is a plan of a room.

Ia n m ir ro r

W illia m

M ik e H e a d te a c h e r

C o l in
Te rry

C a r o ly n

A lis o n H uw R aj

There is a mirror on the wall.

The Headteacher can see only Huw, Raj and Ian, without looking in the mirror.

(a) Draw an arrow on the picture to show how light travels from Raj to the Headteacher.
1 mark

(b) Which TWO people can the Headteacher see only by reflection in the mirror.
(i) .............................................................................................................
1 mark
(ii) .............................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Which TWO people can Colin see only reflected in the mirror?
(i) .............................................................................................................
1 mark
(ii) .............................................................................................................
1 mark

9. The Earth and light

(a) Kate and Ashur are finding out about the Earth, Sun and Moon.

They decide to investigate how shadows change at different times of the day. Kate
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 measures the length of Ashurs shadow.

They repeat their test at two other times of the day.

Draw THREE lines to match each time of day to the correct length of shadow.

(b) Tick ONE box to show why shadows change length during the day.

The Sun orbits the Earth. The Earth orbits the Sun.

The Sun goes up in the

The Earth spins on its axis.
day and down at night.
1 mark

(c) The Moon does not give out light of its own. It reflects light from the Sun.

Tick ONE box to show which sentence below is evidence that the Moon does not give
out its own light.

The moon is a sphere but appears to change

shape during the month.

The Moon is nearer to the Earth than the Sun.

The Moon cannot be seen on cloudy days.

The position of the Moon in the sky changes.

1 mark

(d) Draw TWO arrows on the diagram below to show the direction the light travels so that a
person on the Earth can see the Moon.

10
 2 marks

10. Light

(a) The girl is looking at the large mirror in front of her.

She can see the reflection of the back of her head.

The hairdresser is holding a small mirror.

An arrow has been drawn to show the direction of some light.

Draw TWO more arrows to show how the girl can see the reflection of the back
of her head.
2 marks

(b) The scissors look shiny.

Why do scissors look shiny?

Tick ONE box.

Light passes through them.

They are sharp.

They reflect light.

They give out light.

1 mark

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11. Shadow

(a) The children measured the length of the sticks shadow at different times on a day
in summer.

At 9 oclock in the morning, the Sun is shining.

Explain how the shadow of the stick is formed.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) At 3 oclock in the afternoon, the sun appears to be in a different position in the
sky.

Explain why the Sun appears to have moved.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) At 7 oclock in the evening the Sun appears to have moved further.

Which of the diagrams below shows the position of the shadow at 7 oclock in the
evening?

Tick ONE box.

1 mark

(d) Debbie measured the length of a shadow at different times during the day.
L e n g th o f
She recorded her results. T im e
shadow

Tick the box below which shows the length of the shadow at 2 pm. 10 am 132 cm

11 a m 109 cm
Tick ONE box.
12 noon 91 cm

1 pm 80 cm

2 pm ?

3 pm 108 cm

81 cm 90 cm 105 cm 110 cm
1 mark

(e) Explain why the shadow was shortest at 1 pm.

..................................................................................................................... 1 mark
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12. Shadows

(a) Two children hold some objects between a lamp and the wall.

They see that cardboard makes a dark shadow and a plastic sheet makes a faint
shadow.

Explain why the shadows are different.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Tick TWO objects which make a faint shadow.

a wooden toy a piece of tracing paper

a book a mirror

a clear plastic cup

1 mark

(c) Kelly is drawing around Peter's shadow.

How could Peter make the shadow of his head bigger?

Tick TWO boxes.

move closer to the paper move closer to the lamp

use a bigger lamp use a brighter lamp

move the lamp closer move the lamp further away

1 mark

(d) Explain how Peter's shadow is formed on the paper.

................................................................................................................. 1 mark

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