Orbit of the Earth Find the distance that the earth travels in one day in its pa

Question

Orbit of the Earth Find the distance that the earth travels in one day in its path around the sun. Assume that a year has 365 days and that the path of the earth around the sun is a circle of radius 93 million miles. Circumference of the Earth The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes (ca. 276-195 b.c.) measured the circumference of the earth from the following observations. He noticed that on a certain day the sun shone directly down a deep well in Syene (modem Aswan). At the same time in Alexandria 500 miles north (on the same meridian), the rays of the sun shone at an angle of 7.2 degree to the zenith. Use this information and the figure to find the radius and circumference of the earth.

Explanation / Answer

79) Assuming it a circular path:

radius = 93 million miles

Time = 365 days

Circumference of circluar path = distance travelled by sun in 1(=365 days) year = 2*pi*r

So, distance travelled by earth in 1 day = (2*pi*r)/365 = 2*pi*93/365 = 1.6 million miles

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