standing in middle of Lake Michigan what is the distance from horizon due east to horizon due west?

Answer 1

The horizon depends on the height of eye - for example if your eyes are, say, six feet from the ground the horizon will be 2.8 miles (not the 20 as quoted)

No need to trust me - check it out in the Sailing Almanac - they need this kind of information to work out how far they are from the land - this is done by refering to the 'dipping distance' of a lighthouse for example

Hope this helps

Steve

Answer 2

Seen from 6 feet above the surface of the Earth, the horizon is about 3 miles away, so the east horizon is 6 miles from the west horizon.

Answer 3

Photograf's explanation is correct, although I thought the coefficient was 1.23, not 1.17. Of course, the difference isn't that significant.

To get the difference from the east horizon to the west horizon, you double this, naturally.

Answer 4

Once you know your height of eye you simply plug that into the following formula:

1.17 times the square root of your height of eye = Distance to the horizon in nautical miles

For example, let's say you are on the water in a friend's sport fishing boat and your height of eye is 9 feet above the surface of the water. The formula to calculate distance to the horizon is:

1.17 times the square root of 9 = Distance to the horizon in nautical miles.

1.17 * 3 = 3.51 nautical miles

Answer 5

40 miles.
Anytime you are on a flat surface, on earth, the horizon is defined at 20 miles. Thus you have 2 horizons at 40 miles away from each other.

Answer 6

28 miles. Standing in one spot. The furthest you can see in any direction is 14 miles, due to the curvature of the earth.