Sticks
Submitted 11 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/5a5eaaa1-a769-43e0-9d40-f19f0f51b8d8.jpeg
Comments
Dasus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
eestileib@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
His nickname was “Beta” because he was the second best at everything.
Muscar@discuss.online 11 months ago
Big brain both literally and figuratively based on that etching.
lowleveldata@programming.dev 11 months ago
The original “Tony Stark In a Cave”
Legend@lemmy.sdf.org 11 months ago
Eratosthenes did it with a fucking stick .
But we are not Eratosthenes sir .
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
He was significantly more accurate than that. The degree of his error is slightly complicated by the stadia not being a historically exact figure, but his calculation showed the Earth to be 252,000 stadia in circumference. Accounting for the variability in the exact length of the stadia dependent on what definition was used in the calculation, that gives us in kilometers 39,060km on the lower end and 40,320km on the upper. The actual circumference of the Earth is 40,075km. This gives him an error range of between -2.4% and +0.8%.
He also didn’t just use a stick but used extensive geographic charts to calculate the distance between the 2 cities where he measured the shadow. It was a monumental achievement and is shockingly accurate.
Here is a picture visually demonstrating how he performed his calculation.
Flummoxed@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s still seriously impressive with that error range?
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
I never said it wasn’t. I was originally writing this is a response to a commenter who said the error was ~15%. My comment initially started with “He was actually significantly more accurate than that.”
Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Good question
umbrella@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
to be fair it was more than 1 stick
Cicraft@lemmy.world 11 months ago
how many sticks then?
MrFappy@lemmy.world 11 months ago
A whole bundle of them tied together.
magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 11 months ago
He was obviously employed by NASA. Don’t believe the round earth agenda!
neo@feddit.de 11 months ago
Sheeple never stop to amaze me!
The ground that looks and feels flat is actually flat? Impossible!
A guy 2200 years ago measures how round earth is - with a straight stick? Sure sounds right!
/s
bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 11 months ago
To play devil’s advocate, wouldn’t you get the same result on a flat earth, if the sun was closer enough for rays not to be parallel?
magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 11 months ago
I’m not completely sure, but I guess it’s difficult to fit a flat earth model if you have three or more measurements.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
2 sticks
Dufurson@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
sticks and stones can cucumberference the big rock
disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Sagan did a bit on this.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
isnt this the fucker who used units of stadia? The unit that we have no historical reference to? (at least one significant enough to be certain about it’s actual referenced distance) Which means that we don’t actually know how accurate it was?
olutukko@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I mean we do know the formula, se we know pretty well how accurate it was.
"The simplified method works by considering two cities along the same meridian and measuring both the distance between them and the difference in angles of the shadows cast by the sun on a vertical rod (a gnomon) in each city at noon on the summer solstice. The two cities used were Alexandria and Syene (modern Aswan), and the distance between the cities was measured by professional bematists.[16] A geometric calculation reveals that the circumference of the Earth is the distance between the two cities divided by the difference in shadow angles expressed as a fraction of one turn. "
crispyflagstones@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Sorta. The stade was based on the pous which varied. But not that much, and in ways that are often consistently documented. Around the time Eratosthenes was alive, give or take a couple hundred years, it was documented that 1 Roman mile = 8 stades, which gives us something to go of off. While there are other possible definitions, we do have one that we know is probably closest to whatever Eratosthenes used. Using that definition, he had a 15% error. Depending on how you define the stadia, the error can go as high as 30%. I’m still impressed he got within the right power of ten with nothing but a stick.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
+/-20% error isn’t terrible on a conversion. The fact that it’s only 10% offset is crazy though.
CrispyFern@hexbear.net 11 months ago
Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 11 months ago
There were also wells and a lot of walking involved.
Mango@lemmy.world 11 months ago
THE PYRAMID ALIENS
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It was two sticks! Stop spreading misinformation here!
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Two sticks and a gigantic globe of plasma shining near-parallel beams of light.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That was just kind of hanging around there, so why not use it?
ceenote@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Also a dude he paid to walk a few hundred miles.
Gigan@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Shit, I wanted to reproduce his experiment but I don’t have one of those.
nxdefiant@startrek.website 11 months ago
Now I wonder what “Aaaaakshually” sounds like in ancient Greek.
Artyom@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Smh my head, scientists still don’t have stable fusion, when Erastosthenes was using it as a constant in his experiments.