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The sun blinded me with science!

3 min read

Over the weekend, I was sitting on the beach, staring at the full moon, and I was thinking about how it’s weird that the sun and the moon look similar in size, but – in reality – the sun is much bigger. I learned that the sun is, in fact, 400 times larger than the moon. That’s huge. I cannot emphasize how much bigger it really is without simply rewriting the word HUGE – in all caps!

Science is both thrilling and frightening, like Kennywood’s Phantom’s Revenge.

Side note: When the Phantom’s Revenge goes “clack, clack, clack” up that first hill, I’m petrified. At the top of the hill, I look over at the parking lot and say, “I can see my car from here,” because I can. That is freaky because I go cheap and park in the last row. I’m practically in McKeesport.

But I digress, as I do. It amazes me that someone figured out that the Earth is 93 million miles from the sun without having to walk there – before melting into goo.

The science excites me, but the math frightens me. Unfortunately, math is the secret language of the scientist. It’s why I can’t wrap my head around any of it.

In 240 B.C., Eratosthenes was the first person to fiddle with the equation. He got close, mathematically, but didn’t go all the way to the sun, metaphorically.

However, the Greek polymath calculated the circumference of the Earth. He did it by placing a stick in the ground and measuring the shadows in two different cities at noon. Eratosthenes came within 1% of the correct answer. For the record, the Earth is 24,901 miles wide. Personally, I would not have figured it out without a very, very long measuring tape.

“You hold this end. I’ll be back around in 88 days.”

It amazes me that thousands of years ago, Eratosthenes knew that the Earth was round and nearly figured out the distance from the Earth to the sun, too. His friends must have called him “Mr. Smarty Toga.”

Note: At the time, only barbarians wore pants. I’m picturing Conan in khakis.

There are people walking around today who still don’t know that the Earth is round.

I recently read a story that members of the Flat Earth Society believe Australians aren’t real. The Flat Earthers think Australians are actors paid to pretend to be from Australia.

After seeing the movie “Crocodile Dundee,” I concede that the accent sounds made up. I flew to Australia three years ago, and it’s mostly real. I have been photographed outside the Sydney Opera House and can assure no one rolled the background away after my friend snapped the picture.

It may not be important to know how round the Earth is or how far it is from its biggest power source, but I’m grateful that there are people smart enough to figure that out.

Without physics, we wouldn’t have rocket ships or roller coasters.

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