The solar eclipse, explained by a physics teacher

On August 21, the United States witnessed a solar eclipse. Only those in the path of totality really witnessed this rare event. For us at Central, we got about 45 seconds of totality: when the moon completely blocks out the sun, resulting in complete darkness.

Mr. Ryan McCoy,  physics teacher, was stoked for this, calling it a, “once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Due to a coincidence between the sun and moon’s angular size, the sun becomes obscured, and a ton of weird things happen.

One can expect a significant temperature drop, nocturnal animals to come out, and for wavy lines to appear on the ground. All of these are due to less and less direct sunlight hitting us. The next solar eclipse FHC will experience won’t be for another 500 years, making this truly a once-in-a-lifetime event.