Imagine you had a rubber band large enough to fit perfectly around the equator of the earth. If you found a second rubber band so it fit around the earths equator keeping a height of 1 foot above the ground at every point. How much longer would the second rubber band be than the first?
2007-01-23 12:00:28 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Well think about it. If the second rubber band had to stretch around the first perfectly, it would have to be two times the length of the first band.
2007-01-23 12:03:22 · answer #1 · answered by Giant Squid Man 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assume the earth is a sphere.
The circumference is PI times the diameter.
If the second band is a foot above the first, its diameter is two feet more. Therefore, the circumference is PI*2 longer, or about 3.13159*2 feet longer = 6.26 ft.
This is very counter intuitive, we think it that the great big earth should take more to go about it.
Another fun version of this is the one about the guy who was supposed to run a chain around the world, but found he had mismeasured the chain by a foot and it was already marked so he couldn't cut it, so he decided to spread the difference out, only to find that the chain was about 2" above the earth all the way around (12" divided by PI*2)
2007-01-23 20:07:43 · answer #2 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to know the radius of the earth (6.4 x 10^6 m), and thus work out the circumference of the earth.
Then add 0.33m to the above figure, work out the circumference again, and subtract one from the other to find the difference.
2007-01-23 20:05:08 · answer #3 · answered by Ben C 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mike has the right answer, except pi is 3.14159 not 3.13 ... im sure its a typo
2007-01-23 20:10:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
About six feet, three inches.
2007-01-23 20:05:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the same
2007-01-23 20:07:32 · answer #6 · answered by cute lover 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋