Are shadows two dimensional?

Question

They have length and width but do they have depth?

Answer 1

A shadow, by definition, is the two-dimensional projection cast by light on a three-dimensional body. Think of it this way. Even if you had a shadow cast by a cardboard movie cut-out of Superman, that cardboard has a given thickness that makes it three-dimensional. However, the shadow it casts has no real thickness.

Answer 2

since a shadow is just an absence of light behind something blocking a light source, My first answer is that since a shadow is not an "object", it can't have dimensions in the first place. but I guess you could also say that since the absence extends from the object to the reflective surface that you are seeing the shadow on (wall, floor, etc), then the non-lit area could be measured in 3 dimensions. If a two foot by two foot box throws a two by two shadow (actually it would be slightly widening as it moved away from the light source assuming the source is smaller than the object) on a wall three feet behind it, then the shadow would have a 2 x 2 x 3 "volume" to it.

Answer 3

an "ideal" shadow will be only two-dimensional of course

but in reality, any surface on which we see a shadow, has some depth (if only a few tenths of a millemeter, or even less). So in the real world, shadows are not perfectly 2-d.

Answer 4

A shadow is a region of darkness where light is blocked. A shadow occupies all the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light.

Shadow is also an acoustical phenomenon caused by an object placed in front of a source of sound.

YOU CAN FIND IT http://www.wikipedia.org/ FOR MORE INFO

Answer 5

YES!!! Shadows are two dimensional because they have no substance. The depend for their existence on the presence of light. (There are no shadows in total darkness.) The shadow defines the area of less light, which is surrounded by the area of more light. Because of the air, shadows are less dark on Earth than on the Earth's moon.

Answer 6

Shadows are two dimensional.

They cant have a volume, (only three dimensional things have volume) cause they are not matter. Only matter occupy space and volume. Shadows are nothing but absence of light, so they are not matter/substance hence they have no volume and hence two dimensional only.

Answer 7

no they dont have depth
because depth is associated with 3-d quantities
according to time space co-ordintates shadow is a 2-d quantity witout a volume but do have a surface area

Answer 8

Yes, they have length and width, but no depth.

Answer 9

Yes

Answer 10

yes and it starts from where the reason of it is