Fay Pullen wielding her fancy... | [ Sizes: Orig | Med | Small | Thumb ] |
Fay Pullen wielding her fancy schmancy clinometer to measure the West Summit inclination from the Middle Summit. She and I both measured a 2-degree downward angle to the West Summit, which, at first blush, implies the Middle Summit is higher. However, Earth curvature effects need to be considered. For a one-mile separation, the drop away due to Earth curvature is 8 inches. At a one-mile separation between peaks, 2 degrees equates to 185 feet of vertical distance (trigonometry), so obviously the curvature effect has no significance. At these distances, atmospheric distortion is probably negligible too. So I guess one could conclude that the Middle Summit is the highpoint of the Goat massif. April 18, 2005. Comments[ Post a Comment ] | ericnoel | Curvature of Earth | | 
Hasn't voted | Hmmm, I googled for curvature of the Earth over one mile and multiple sites were you unanimous in citing 8 inches. Something is clearly amiss here with one calculation or another to get such disparate figures where you have it 184 feet higher. ? | | Posted Nov 9, 2008 11:56 pm |
 | | Klenke | Re: Curvature of Earth | | 
Hasn't voted | I fixed the caption. Thanks. The 185-ft value was not the drop away value due to curvature but the vertical drop away for 2 degrees down and one mile distance (tangent stuff). | | Posted Nov 10, 2008 2:25 pm |
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