The daytime tip is wrong. The path of the tip of shadow of a vertical stick does not trace a west to east line as described. However, there's an easy fix that does work: Put the stick into the ground pointing directly at the sun to start, so it has no shadow. Then wait. The shadow that will appear points east. It's because the stick lies in the plane of the ecliptic.
The daytime tip is wrong. The path of the tip of shadow of a vertical stick does not trace a west to east line as described. However, there's an easy fix that does work: Put the stick into the ground pointing directly at the sun to start, so it has no shadow. Then wait. The shadow that will appear points east. It's because the stick lies in the plane of the ecliptic.