Use Your Hand To Measure Daylight


by NGJEricDavis - Date: 2010-08-21 - Word Count: 376 Share This!

When you find yourself outdoors or coping with minimal (or no) electric power, duties tend to be measured by how much daylight remains. Lumination originating from the sun is needed so as to accomplish many duties. Understanding how much natural light is left in the day will help you determine the best way to set your goals relating to issues such as shelter and fire.

While this might seem like basic information, it can be crucial to be aware of when individuals could be more comfortable with eating a late supper as well as relaxing afterwards. The preparation and cleanup will best be achieved while the sun remains shining and you can actually see what you're doing. It's NOT FUN to meet your day with encrusted cookware that couldn't be properly stored the night before thanks to weak lighting conditions. A quick survey of campers will provide you with an earful about how much more desirable it is to put together shelter prior to nightfall.

Approximate the time you have before nightfall by locating the sun's position in the sky without staring straight at it. Straighten your arm towards the sun and turn your hand with the fingers directed to one side, the palm turned towards you. Determine how many finger-widths of space there are between the bottom edge of the sun and the horizon line. For every thickness of a finger you can place between the sun and the line of the horizon, there is approximately a quarter of an hour of daylight. Therefore, if you had a single width of your hand between the sun and the horizon, there would be around an hour (4 fingers X fifteen minutes) until the setting of the sun.

This same method can be incorporated during the morning to determine how long ago daybreak occurred. Additionally, measuring the distance of the sun from both the eastern and western horizons provides you with a good general idea of the length of time you'll have between sunrise and sunset. Half of this time will give you the hours between daybreak/nightfall and the middle of the day. This valuable tool will allow you to refrain from becoming so absorbed in any solitary task that you run out of time to accomplish other important things.

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