Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Odd shadow
Yesterday morning an odd little phenomenon showed up. There had been a light rain earlier, just enough to dampen the streets, not enough to make a real layer of liquid. The sun was hidden behind heavy clouds. (Picture shows Mr Sun for direction reference, but he wasn't really visible.) Wind was faint, coming from the side.
The street was littered with pine cones, and every cone had dried out the surrounding pavement for about two feet, mainly toward the sun.
Shadow wouldn't explain it. If the sun had been bright, the region behind the cones would have remained wet and all the rest would be dry.
Only explanation I can think of is radiated heat. The sun-facing side of the cones must have absorbed a bit of heat, then re-radiated it toward the pavement, warming the cement just enough to evaporate. ¶ 9:10 AM
Yesterday morning an odd little phenomenon showed up. There had been a light rain earlier, just enough to dampen the streets, not enough to make a real layer of liquid. The sun was hidden behind heavy clouds. (Picture shows Mr Sun for direction reference, but he wasn't really visible.) Wind was faint, coming from the side.
The street was littered with pine cones, and every cone had dried out the surrounding pavement for about two feet, mainly toward the sun.
Shadow wouldn't explain it. If the sun had been bright, the region behind the cones would have remained wet and all the rest would be dry.
Only explanation I can think of is radiated heat. The sun-facing side of the cones must have absorbed a bit of heat, then re-radiated it toward the pavement, warming the cement just enough to evaporate. ¶ 9:10 AM
