A fun-filled hands-on science project outdoors, measure sun shadows and find the circumference of the Earth accurately! Replicate what Eratosthenes, an ancient Greek astronomer did 3000 years ago.

‘Project Paridhi’ is a flagship project of SPACE, to popularize hands-on science, students find out the circumference of the Earth by taking measurements of the shadows made by the sun in a day, as done 3000 years ago by astronomer Eratosthenes, who was able to measure it within 2% of the presently accepted value. This project was initiated 9 years ago in 2010 with the intention to increase awareness amongst Indians that science can be done without any complicated equipment.

It is a platform that proves science can be best learned by an experiment. It is open to all age groups and the public. It is typically conducted on days of Equinoxes and Solstices. ‘Project Paridhi’ is a scientific experimental project by SPACE to popularize hands-on science.

Description of Activity

This is a hands-on science activity that involves measuring the length of shadows casted by a vertical object (gnomon) by the sunlight to determine the local noon. Simple trigonometry leads to the calculation of the circumference using the measured sun angle. This activity replicates the same activity which was done by Eratosthenes long ago.

Learning Outcomes and Benefits to Schools

Participants learn basic concepts of science in a fun way with hands-on science and use geometry and trigonometry. Some are trained as Earth Scientists and they can conduct the training for the others, which hones a leadership skill. Schools can host this project in their neighborhood to promote the experiment.

SPACE encourages everyone to join Project Paridhi – flagship project by SPACE to do the hands-on science activity. Replicate of Eratosthenes activity and calculate the circumference of the Earth using simple sun shadows measurements. To do the same, SPACE is providing an opportunity in the upcoming celestial occurrence, Vernal Equinox, on March 20, 2020, to all schools and the general public for special conduction of our flagship program ‘Project Paridhi’ where a large number of students will be able to participate, under the guidance of our Educators.

SPACE India celebrates Vernal Equinox

All Schools are welcome to participate and register themselves to celebrate the Vernal Equinox. Latest by March 19th, 2020. register

To see how we have taken Project Paridhi over the years to people from all walks of life and various age groups click on the links below and read on.

2019

SPACE conducted project paridhi for the students of Sarvodaya kanya Vidyalaya,pushpvihar

2017

SPACE conducted Project Paridhi for students and public on Winter Solstice at JantarMantar, New Delhi on 21 Dec. 2017

2016

SPACE conducted Project Paridhi for students and the public on Winter Solstice at Qutub Minar

March'14

SPACE celebrated the first day of spring with its associated schools at JantarMantar by measuring the Earth

June'14

SPACE conducted Project Paridhi for students and the public on the Summer Solstice at India Gate.

This project involves the reading of shadows casted by a gnomon at the local noon. This can be done by different teams at one or more locations which have the same longitudes on the Globe.

For example, cities like New Delhi, Bangalore and Alma-ta in Kazakhstan fall almost at one degree of longitude and readings are taken at the same time from these cities which can tell us about the size and shape of the Earth. This experiment can be performed on any day but the conduction on the specific days of SOLSTICE AND EQUINOX is preferred, as the position of the sun on these days is directly overhead the Tropics of Capricorn or Tropics of Cancer or the Equator, makes the sun’s angle equal to or directly related to the latitude of the location. This makes the experiment easier to conduct and also helps in understanding the solstice and equinox.

To know more about the experiment, see the following –

What is solstice and equinox

Eratosthenes and the Experiment

How to do the Eratosthenes Experiment

Frequently Asked Questions


2015

Special teams of students were nominated from 15 different schools. These students were trained in the conduction of Project Paridhi and its technical aspects. These students will further conduct this activity in their schools to enable the maximum awareness in the students by encouraging them to participate in the activity. These trained students will form a ‘Student Earth Scientists’ team who will accompany SPACE for the conduction, and further will volunteer to assist the conductions for the students who did not qualify in the experiment.

Following is the list of Student Earth Scientists 2015:

Modern Delhi Public School, Sector-87, Faridabad

Aastha Verma Ravikul Rao Prerna Sharma
Aayush Anand Shaurya Mehra Ramayanam Jyothirmayi Lakshmi Sruthi
Aayushi Singh Aadika Bhatia Roy George
Anuj Sharma Aditi Jindal Shobhit Kumar Bisw
Kanav Malhotra Aditya Ahuja Siddhaant Gulati
Piyush S Wandile Aditya Aggarwal Vani Dhaka
Riddhi Ananya Dogra Vasu Tanwar
Sajal Gupta Anirwan Banerjee Ashish Pattanaik
Sameep Monga Khushi Goel Daksh Singh Sangwan
Taniya Dahiya Madhav Kumar Malik Jiya Kathuria
Anmol Gupta Mayank Nahelia Adya Aggarwal
Anuj Chaudhary Mishti Ghosal Khushi Mishra
Vansh Kushwaha Neha Pal Krisha Khandelw
Hardhik Aggarwal Pratham Pandey
Khushi Dhall Pratham Goel
St. Thomas School, Dwarka DL DAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj
Chaahat Arora Pulkit Bansal Kaustubh Srivastava
Rupanshi Bhatnagar Rohan Bhatia Archana Athotra
Aamod Kulkarni Divy Sharma Akshita Dutta Gupta
Tanmay Verma Samar Pratap Singh Nandini Narula
Aryan Bhatia Poorna Juneja Rohit Arora
Saksham Jain Parkhi Dangx Tanya Arora
Nishtha Gaur Kanisha Aggarwal
Saumya Nehal Mishra
Kshitij
Sachdeva Global School Bal Bharati Public School, Noida The Indian Heights School, Dwarka
Rudra Pratap Singh Manav Vaid Akshita Ramola
Ananya Pant Tarun Ajay Singh Manish
Moksha Saraswati Siddharth Singh Nandini
Sanskar Sogani Vatsal Mittal Shalvika Pandey
Sahil Verma Samarth Juyal Shivansh Thaker
Utkarsh Choudhary
Abhijit Pandey
Karan Negi
Yash Garg
Aadeesh Garg
Hrithik Joshi
Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad Apeejay School, Faridabad Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Ashok Vihar
Ishan Singh Kamlakshi Khanna Runishka
Tamanna Singh Ayanika Hajra Joeell Singh
Anushka Goyal Shefali Aggarwal Manas Gupta
Vrinda Batra Ananya Gupta Dhwaj Gupta
Shreya Singh Lakkshya Gupta
Ribhu Sehgal Ram Malik
AMITY International School, Mayur Vihar Nation Victor Public School, Patparganj Presidium School, Sec-57, Gurgaon
Adwita Manocha Bhumi Gupta Runishka
Ananya Choudhary Pradyumn Pandey Joeell Singh
Kushal Kapoor Bhanu Khetharpal Manas Gupta
Mridul Vatsal Dhwaj Gupta
Akshat Bhardwaj Lakkshya Gupta
Bhragu Bindal Ram Malik
Indraprastha International School, Dwarka Contd. Contd.
Harshita Shokeen Prachi Mittal Shreya Malik
Divyanshu Sachdeva Vansh Chopra Somya Tomar
Siddhath Sehrawat Shivam Goswami Urvi Jha
Soumya Dhingra Sukriti Sharma Jefrin Puthusseril
Tushar Sharma Tanishq Midha Lishica Kapoor
Laksh Dey
Delhi Public School, Sector-19, Faridabad Contd. Contd.
Shorya Gupta Ankur Sharma Vedansh Kakkar
Aneemesh Aditi Khanna Devanshi Gupta
Vidhish Saksham Bhandari Avii Ahuja
Sejal Kakkar Yashika Bondwal Kashika Tuteja
Shashank Sengar Amaan Ul Haque Aditi Sisodia
Sampreet Suri Anshuman Malik Prakhar Agarwal
Siddhant Bansal Harshita Chindalia Vasudha Dahiya
Dikshant Gupta Nimisha Khanna Ishaan Watts
Khushi Aggarwal Yash Abrol Jeh Singh Malik
Divyam Singal Harsh Gupta Ravista Gandhi
Samarrth Khanna Gitika Yadav Khushee Grover
Monarch Mittal Reem Gandhi Kashish Mittal
Tanmay Grover Ananya Bansal
Aadya Gupta Priyanshi Gupta
Grishya Dhingra Garvita Chopra
Shrey Chandra Varad Rajesh Badhe
2014

Below is the list of 253 Student Earth Scientists from 19 schools who conducted Project Paridhi during Autumn Equinox with the help of the complete training given to them by SPACE in 2014.

Schools who conducted: Amity International School, Pushp Vihar, Amity International School, Saket, Apeejay school, Pitampura

Students Earth scientists:

Naman Bareja Ansh Kapoor Prajit Bhadauria
Utkarsh Jain Eklavya Singh Chaitanya Chhabra
Samaksh Gupta Khushi Arora Ritwik arora
Advika Sareen Dipannita Choudhury Abhi gawande
Lavanya Sehrawat Pallav Matta Abhimanyu barun
Ashita Gupta Aranshu Modi Shivam shukla
Somya Sahni Lavannya Chopra Ritika sethi
Sajal Gupta Lavanya Kandhari Shivam Verma
Rahil raj Gaurav Pati Aakshi Sharma
Akshat anand Kanika Sharma Sejal Mangla

Schools who conducted: Bal Bharati Public School, Rohini, Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg

Students Earth scientists:
Kartikey Agarwal Raghav Khandelwal Asim Rajvanshi
Manan Anand Divansha GoelIshan Budhiraja
Adil Sikka Vaibhav Garg Aditya Jain
Kritika Kakkar Himani Phalwaria Shivam Mahajan
Shreyansh Shubham Anishka Dogra
Tanishq Khandelwal Khushi Garg Kushgra Jain
Prakhar Khandelwal Gautam Sachdeva Avil Goel
Tanish Gupta Ravjot Singh Atishay Jain
Dishita Gupta Rishabh Jindal Dhruv Dubey
Mann Bajpai Shreya Jain Simrat Singh
Saiyam Sharma Chirag Chaddha Anuj
Kamal Goel Lovenaya Jain Raghav Gupta
Bhaanu Ashok Akshat Ananda
Ayush Sonim Archit Gupta
Cahitanya Dhawan Divyansh Girliv Singh
Vanshika Garg Nitya Bhasin Satvik Bhardwaj
Chahat Jain Pankhuri Sharma Vishal Tyagi
Aditi Anand Dev Malik Ahad Alam
Nayonika Arora Aastha Shekhar Saksham Gupta
Poornima Gupta Gaurav Madan

Schools who conducted: Bal Bharati Public School, Noida, DAV Public School, Gurgaon

Students Earth scientists:

Robin Bhatt Aadishri Soni Rachit Gupta
Nitin Daivik Hasija Sanchit Verma
Ujjwala Kanyal Nitish Kapur Shrirang Khachane
Samarth Juyal Tanya Mahajan Vaibhav Saxena
Kanika Sood Chirag Kalra Yash Aggarwal
Anurag Goswami Nupur Baral Manan Aggarwal
Aastha Gupta Aqanksha Abhishek Brennan
Rucha Deep Chhabra Akshat Verma
Arpit Srivastava Yashvardhan Gaur Divyanshu Gupta
Alankrit Raj Anmol Bansal Khushi Chhillar
Geetika Chhikara Suyash Nain
Kartik Chinda Tanu Taneja
Kirti Sharma Shristi Bawari Teena Siingh
Yajus Gakhar Aayush Krishnan Deeksha Sharma

Schools who conducted: Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad, ITL Public School, Dwarka, Indraprastha World School, Paschim Vihar

Students Earth scientists:

Shashank Kirtania Noor Dewan Kirti Chandel
Ridham Bhagat Aditi Gupta Tejal
Padam Devansh PunjUpali Giri
Saiyam Chhabra Akhil Babbar Harshdeep Singh
Kunal Aryan Bansal Megumi Sharma
Chirag Anoushka Mishra Soumya Mehta
DhrishJanvi Kukreja Vansh Gautam Shivika
Sanya Malik Vidhi Harshvardhan Shrey Syed
Arfan Kayum Aryan Arya
Mantegh Singh Anand Simran Ria Singh
vishesh Rohan Sharma Naman Jain
Raghav Jain

Schools who conducted: Indraprastha International School, Dwarka, Khaitan Public School, Noida, Presidium School, Indirapuram

Students Earth scientists:
Gandharv Mohan Dhruv Mittal Aniket Mohrana
Siddharth Bhan Arnav Singh Shubika Agarwal
Gurashish Singh Satyam Mishra Siddhant Shinghal
Harshit Garg Pragatya Aryan Goel
Saniya Chopra Somansh Varun Kaul
Aashi Choudhary Sanjeevani Shukla Srushti Dube
Kashish Anand Aryan Pandey Kavya Lilhare
Oshin Saini Aadityan Sunil Akruti Sharma
Ayushi Manav Gupta Aditya
Dhanraj Singh Shaurya Chaadak Adhyan Mall
Vedant Laur Akhil Jain GunjanIsha Chopra
Mayank Mishra Pragya Kapoor Vedansh Maheshwari
Samar Dhyani Karthik Siddharth Sadhwani
Chirag Mallika Mathur

Schools who conducted: Ryan Int. School, Sector 25, Rohini, Sachdeva Public School, Rohini, St. Columba’s School, Ashoka Road

Students Earth scientists:
Aadit Goel Kaneeka Kalra Siddharth Jain
Nipoon Mann Shefali Mittal Abdullah Haneef
Kinshuk Sharma Tushar Agarwal Rishabh Dhiman
Jalaj Aggarwal Aakash Sinha Gurkirat Singh
Akshit Rao Mukul Raghav Nayyar
Siddharth Wadhwa Kushagra Viren Hemrajani
Yuvraj Soneja Akshat Jain
Yatharth Dhingra Mukund Saini Mithlesh Beniwal
Ragghav Suneja Akshay Anand Rudraksh Gupta
Akhil Yadav Dev Chharia Ajay Sharma
Sidharrth Kr. Singh Arjun Kaushik C V Sagar
Kunal Khandelwal Sirshak Sarkar Prince Verma
Faraz Suhail Mridul Sachdeva Saurabh Soreng
Naman Gupta Jashn Tyagi

Schools who conducted: The Maurya School, GurgaonVSPK School, Rohini

Students Earth scientists:
Aryaman Kalra Tushar Yadav Pratham Aggarwal
Varun Shrivastava Dhruv Singhal Tushar Mittal
Abhishek Sharma Somil Luthra Shaswat Rathi
Akshat Bansal Nitin Chhillar Anurag Rajput
Aryan Bansal Ripudaman Singh Hrishbh Goel
Sanjit Mullick Harsh airn Madhav Mehta
Avnish Kansal Kevin bansal Kartikay Sharma
Arnav singh Durgesh Batra Debar pan Chatterjee
Shaurya Dagar
Project Paridhi is a flagship program of SPACE and has achieved many credits:

  • Launched in 2010, 5000 students and the local public from different parts of India had taken part in Project Paridhi.
  • Paridhi had been conducted at different landmarks like JantarMantar, QutubMinar and the Sundial at Barapullah flyover and at locations like Chennai and Ludhiana in India.
  • It has been accredited in a report on ‘Astronomy in public places’ by French Professors, Mr Prof Denis Savoie and Prof Bonnet Bidaud.
  • VIPs such as DG of Archaeological Survey of India and Deputy CM Delhi, Mr Manish Sisodia have graced the conductions and encouraged the students.
  • Earth’s circumference has been calculated up to 99% accuracy till date in this project.
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