# shadows: could it be true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209 "2000-04-12T22:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![oasis325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@oasis325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oasis325)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/1 "2000-04-12T22:48:00Z")
I was walking by streetlights one night and realized that before man came along and discovered fire, the sun was the only source of shadows on earth for billions of years. Is this true? Furthermore, only by the discovery of light bulbs has an object on earth had multiple shadows at one time. Ex: stadium lighting at a nighttime baseball game. I’ve tried to think of all the exceptions… maybe the comet that did in the dinosaurs. I don’t know. Is my thought true, or no? ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/2 "2000-04-12T22:58:00Z")
lightning ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/3 "2000-04-12T23:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I was walking by streetlights one night and realized that before man came along and discovered fire, the sun was the only source of shadows on earth for billions of years. Is this true? No, because humanity didn’t “discover” fire. It existed before humanity learned to use it and create it. There are also creatures and compounds which luminesce either on their own or after exposure to a light source, so it’s possible the light from one or more of those creatures or compounds could have been strong enough to cast shadows. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/4 "2000-04-12T23:05:00Z")
The moon can cast a shadow when it’s full. It’s not much of one, but it happens. I saw an old newspaper clipping where someone reported Venus being so bright that it cast shadows. Wasn’t Cat Stevens singing about a “moon shadow” once? ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/5 "2000-04-12T23:07:00Z")
A full moon also casts a shadow (albeit a hard to see one) on clear nights. ---
**Author:** ![oasis325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@oasis325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oasis325)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/6 "2000-04-12T23:16:00Z")
ok: I concede the first part - there were other sources of shadows then. But what about the multiple shadows part? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/7 "2000-04-12T23:31:00Z")
Multiple fires? * * * Well, either you’re closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the power of the presence of a pool table in your community. Ya’ got trouble my friends! - Prof. Harold Hill Gary Conservatory Gold Medal Class '05 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/8 "2000-04-12T23:36:00Z")
A lightning storm with mutiple strikes could give this effect . Also forest fires can be spread over a large area which could also cast several different shadows. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shadows-could-it-be-true/10209/9 "2000-04-12T23:36:00Z")
This was a little before my time, but I can imagine cave dwellers noticing the multiple shadows created by having more than one fire going at the same time. And, on nights when there was nothing good on tv, amusing themselves with that fact. Ditto in later years for torches, candles, lamps, etc. Also, there was outdoor lighting using arc-lamps a few years before the light bulb was invented.