Sticks
Submitted 1 week 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 1 week ago
eestileib@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
His nickname was “Beta” because he was the second best at everything.
Muscar@discuss.online 1 week ago
Big brain both literally and figuratively based on that etching.
lowleveldata@programming.dev 1 week ago
The original “Tony Stark In a Cave”
Legend@lemmy.sdf.org 1 week ago
Eratosthenes did it with a fucking stick .
But we are not Eratosthenes sir .
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week 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 1 week ago
It’s still seriously impressive with that error range?
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week 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 1 week ago
Good question
umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
to be fair it was more than 1 stick
Cicraft@lemmy.world 1 week ago
how many sticks then?
MrFappy@lemmy.world 1 week ago
A whole bundle of them tied together.
magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 1 week ago
He was obviously employed by NASA. Don’t believe the round earth agenda!
neo@feddit.de 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week ago
2 sticks
Dufurson@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
sticks and stones can cucumberference the big rock
disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
Sagan did a bit on this.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week ago
+/-20% error isn’t terrible on a conversion. The fact that it’s only 10% offset is crazy though.
CrispyFern@hexbear.net 1 week ago
Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 1 week ago
There were also wells and a lot of walking involved.
Mango@lemmy.world 1 week ago
THE PYRAMID ALIENS
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 week ago
It was two sticks! Stop spreading misinformation here!
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Two sticks and a gigantic globe of plasma shining near-parallel beams of light.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That was just kind of hanging around there, so why not use it?
ceenote@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Also a dude he paid to walk a few hundred miles.
Gigan@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Shit, I wanted to reproduce his experiment but I don’t have one of those.
nxdefiant@startrek.website 1 week ago
Now I wonder what “Aaaaakshually” sounds like in ancient Greek.
Artyom@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Smh my head, scientists still don’t have stable fusion, when Erastosthenes was using it as a constant in his experiments.