admin
12-16-2005, 03:46 PM
Measurement of Circumference of Earth BC with camels and 2 sticks to 15% error!!:laugh: McGuiver on brain steroids!
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=334&HistoryID=aa32
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=500 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>The circumference of the earth: calculated c. 220 BC
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=mdblk vAlign=top width=450>Eratosthenes, the librarian of the museum at Alexandria, has more on his mind than just looking after the scrolls. He is making a map of the stars (he will eventually catalogue nearly 700), and he is busy with his search for prime numbers; he does this by an infinitely laborious process now known as the 'sieve of Eratosthenes'.
But his most significant project is working out the circumference of the earth.
</TD><TD width=30></TD><!--right hand column links below here--><TD vAlign=top align=middle width=20>http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/img/interactiveicon1.gif (http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/histories.asp?pid=adpa&nid=aa32)
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/img/print_icon2.gif (http://www.historyworld.net/textonly/printpg.asp?type=histories&pid=adpa&nid=aa32&pcount=2)
adpa
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=mdblk vAlign=top width=450>Eratosthenes hears that in noon at midsummer the sun shines straight down a well at Aswan, in the south of Egypt. He finds that on the same day of the year in Alexandria it casts a shadow 7.2 degrees from the vertical. If he can calculate the distance between Aswan and Alexandria, he will know the circumference of the earth (360 degrees instead of 7.2 degrees, or 50 times greater).
He discovers that camels take 50 days to make the journey from Aswan, and he measures an average day's walk by this fairly predictable beast of burden. It gives him a figure of about 46,000 km for the circumference of the earth. This is, amazingly, only 15% out (40,000 km is closer to the truth).
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=334&HistoryID=aa32
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=500 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>The circumference of the earth: calculated c. 220 BC
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=mdblk vAlign=top width=450>Eratosthenes, the librarian of the museum at Alexandria, has more on his mind than just looking after the scrolls. He is making a map of the stars (he will eventually catalogue nearly 700), and he is busy with his search for prime numbers; he does this by an infinitely laborious process now known as the 'sieve of Eratosthenes'.
But his most significant project is working out the circumference of the earth.
</TD><TD width=30></TD><!--right hand column links below here--><TD vAlign=top align=middle width=20>http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/img/interactiveicon1.gif (http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/histories.asp?pid=adpa&nid=aa32)
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/img/print_icon2.gif (http://www.historyworld.net/textonly/printpg.asp?type=histories&pid=adpa&nid=aa32&pcount=2)
adpa
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=mdblk vAlign=top width=450>Eratosthenes hears that in noon at midsummer the sun shines straight down a well at Aswan, in the south of Egypt. He finds that on the same day of the year in Alexandria it casts a shadow 7.2 degrees from the vertical. If he can calculate the distance between Aswan and Alexandria, he will know the circumference of the earth (360 degrees instead of 7.2 degrees, or 50 times greater).
He discovers that camels take 50 days to make the journey from Aswan, and he measures an average day's walk by this fairly predictable beast of burden. It gives him a figure of about 46,000 km for the circumference of the earth. This is, amazingly, only 15% out (40,000 km is closer to the truth).
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>