What Makes a Shadow ‘Black’ or ‘Gray’?

Shadows can look black or gray depending on how much light is hitting the object. If there's almost no light, a shadow looks black. If there’s some light, it looks gray, like when you’re in a room with a lamp and your shadow is on the wall.

Why It Matters

When you’re outside in the sun, everything is bright, so shadows are darker. But inside a house with only one light, shadows aren’t as dark.

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Examples

Your shadow on the floor looks gray when you're near a lamp but black when you're far from it.
A tree’s shadow on the ground is black at noon but turns gray in the evening.
You look like a ghost when your shadow is all gray on a cloudy day.

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Categories: Physics · light,shadow,optics