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and know the angle made by them at the centre, we can find out the length of the circle. This means that if we know the distance between two points on the Earth and the angle they make with the Earths centre, we can find out the circumference of the Earth. The distance between two places can be measured. The problem is to measure the angle that they make. This was solved by Eratosthenes.
He had heard that in a place called Syene, south of Alexandria, the walls of a well cast no shadow in thewater at noon on the day of the middle of Summer. In other words, there were no shadows of by vertical things June 21st, as the Sun was exactly overhead there at noon. But on the same date he observed that a vertical pillar inAlexandria cast a small but measurable length of shadow. If the Earth was flat, then the sunrays coming perpendicular to the flatland would make all vertical objects cast similar shadows anywhere on the Earth. The difference in the length is possible only if the Sunlight comes at different angles at different places. This means that the Earth is a curved surface. If two sticks perpendicular to the ground in Syene and Alexandria were to extend to the centre of the Earth, they would thus make an angle. Using simple geometry, he found out this angle from the length of the shadow at Alexandria on 21stJune. It came out to be about 7o which is 1/50thof 360o. It is said that he got an army to walk to Syene [now called Aswan] to measure the distance till
there. It came out to be 800km. Fifty times that i.e. 40,000km was the circumference of the Earth! Aim
The aim of this activity is to get teachers and students to measure the dimensions of the Earth using the same simple method used by Eratosthenes over 2000 years ago. Participants are to make a simple setup and measure some shadows and note some times. If s & are known in the figure below, we can find the circumference of the Earth.
To get the value of the Earth's circumference, Eratosthenes had to measure the distance between the two places that he did the experiment at. But now that we know the circumference very accurately, we can reverse the method and use it to find the latitude and longitude of the place where our observations are taken.
More...
The scope of this project to teach applied geometry and trigonometry is great. The radius and other parameters of a sphere can be found out by the children using the circumference. This project, if done in a group across the country, can also help you verify your latitude and your longitude. A comparison with other groups and some calculations can give us the easily give us these values. If two places collaborate, they can also find out the distance between them.
Instead of doing it on just one day, this can also be repeated periodically for years to come so that a new group of students get to learn form this exercise every year.
Three to five days before the actual date of the experiment locate the place where you would like to do the experiment and fix the pole and watch the shadow of the pole. Check if it gets the full sunshine from 10 am to 2 p.m. It can and might happen that at a crucial time shadow of a nearby building might fall on the pole spoiling your experiment. Shift the position of the pole if necessary.
The pole is to be rooted in the ground firmly. It is important, for this group project, that it is exactly 200 cm above the ground. For this, measure 200cm length from one end of the pole and mark this point with coloured tape. Bury the pole such that the portion after this goes inside and the tape is just touching the ground.
Now if you are fixing the pole in soil then you should dig a deep hole and put the base into it such that 200 cm stick out above the ground. Pack it with small stones and pebbles and then add loose soil. Make the pole exactly vertical with the help of a plumb-line. Put water to fix it.
If you school has tiled floor or if you would like to do the experiment on the terrace of your school then you may make a stand to support the pole but remember that the place of the pole should not be disturbed during the entire experiment. Again use the plumb-line to make the pole vertical.
You have to check your watch if it is accurate. Tune in the All India Radio (AIR) just before the morning news at 8 a.m. Prior to the start of the News you will hear beep. When you hear the long beep it mean it is exactly 8 a.m. Check time in your watch matches with that of AIR if it does then it is ok of not correct the watch and check it the next day again. If there is a problem then either get a better watch or correct your time. The clocks in Mobile phones are quite accurate.
On the day of the experiment 1. Be at the observing station i.e. where the pole is anchored, by about 9:30 a.m. and get ready to start the observations by filling up the form given here. 2. Now exactly at 10 a.m. mark the shadow of the pole. If you are doing the experiment in the field place one of the marbles or stone or hammer a nail etc. in the ground. If you are on the terrace or on the tiled floor then mark the tip of the shadow with chalk.
3. Continue the observations every 10 minutes. 4. But dont worry if you missed one or two observations because of clouds or some other disturbances. Do not put marks on your own to make up for it!
Calculations
Make a scale drawing of your pole and least shadow at right angles to each other. Complete the triangle and measure the angle on top with a protractor. We denote this number by One can also use trigonometry to find it.
Longitude of the place : Longitude of the place would be the time difference between the time at which the shadow was minimum at
you place and the time at which the shadow was minimum at a place whose longitude we know. See the table below
Latitude (N) 28o 37 18o 33 Longitude (E) 77o 15 73o 49 5h 09m 4h 55m
Example: On 22nd Dec 07 at Vigyan Prasar, Noida and IUCAA the shadow would be shortest at 12:19 and 12:33 respectively. This time is also called transit time of the sun. Now say at your station the time at which the shadow was minimum was at 12:21. Which is 2 min after the transit time at Vigyan Prasar or 12 min before the transit time at IUCAA Pune. [All times are in IST] Therefore the longitude of your place would be [5h 09m 0h 2m] = 5h 07m or [4h 55m + 0h 12m] = 5h 7m or 76o 45.
Observation Log
Name and address of the Organization (school, amateur astronomer's clubs etc) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Name of the principle investigator(s) (PI) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Height of the vertical pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Even though we have fixed the length of the pole to be exactly 200 cm above the ground but it would pay to check it out and if it is not then write the exact length.) Observation table (write length in centimeters)
Time in (IST) Length of the shadow Time in (IST) Length of the shadow Time in (IST) Length of the shadow Time in (IST) Length of the shadow
it was obtained by - graphical method / using calculator, tick one) Latitude of the place - 23.5 deg)........................................... Longitude of the place
Time at which the shadow was minimum at Vigyan Prasar, Noida - ............... = ..................... (VP time) (your time) (time difference) Longitude at your place 5h 09m (VP longitude) longitude in time) - ..................... = (time difference) .................... (your
or ....................... x 15 = .................. your longitude in degrees (your long. in time) OR Time at which the shadow was minimum at IUCAA MVS, Pune .................. - ............... = ...................... (IUCAA time) (your time) (time difference) ..................... = (time difference) .................... (your
2) One would need some help in measuring the length of the shadow.
3) The floor on which this experiment was carried out has the "graph lines" made during the cementing of the floor. One can, therefore, measure "x" and "y" and calculate the shadow length. 4) But it could be fun doing in a group helping each other.
We thank Neha (1st year BSc, Fergusson college), Madhuvanti and Mayuri (X std, DAV Public School), Dhruv and Rohan (VI std, Loyola School) And Jyoti Hiremath for helping out Neha.
There are other sources of experimental error: the greatest limitation to Eratosthenes' method was that, in antiquity, overland distance measurements were not reliable, especially for travel along the non-linear Nile which was traveled primarily by boat. For overland distance measurement, the accuracy rests on the estimated average speed of a caravan of camels. So, the accuracy of Eratosthenes' size of the earth is surprising.
Eratosthenes' experiment was highly regarded at the time, and his estimate of the Earths size was accepted for hundreds of years afterwards. His method was used by Posidonius about 150 years later.
Weblinks
Other Eratosthenes experiment projects: http://www.k12science.org/noonday/ http://www.physics2005.org/projects/eratosthenes/experiment.html http://www.algonet.se/~sirius/eaae/aol/market/collabor/erathost/ http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/observatory/eratosthenes/ http://www.youth.net/eratosthenes/ About Eratosthenes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes
Contact
Mr. Arvind Paranjpye OR Mr. Samir Dhurde (020-25604601) (020-25604603) (arp@iucaa.ernet.in) (samir@iucaa.ernet.in) PO Bag #4, IUCAA, Ganeshkhind, Pune -411007 OR Vigyan Prasar