If you knew what triangulation was you wouldn't be confused about how it can be used to measure the distance to the sun.
Or you could just explain it, but you can’t. You can’t find the distance to the sun because it is an unknown. Even if you know the distance from you to another person on the ground, that tells you nothing about either of your distances to a light in the sky.
Even if you know the distance from you to another person on the ground, that tells you nothing about either of your distances to a light in the sky.
Dude. It tells you everything you need to know, actually. It's called trigonometry. You can use it for everything from measuring the height of a tree, or mountain, to how far away the Sun and Moon are. The formula is:
d = b / (2 * tan (a / 2))
b is the distance between two observers and a is the difference in apparent position in degrees.
If you and a buddy are precisely 1,000 miles apart and the difference between the relative positions of the Moon as seen from both locations is 0.24 degrees, you can solve for d:
d = 1,000 / (2 * tan (0.24 / 2))
d = 1,000 / (2 * tan (0.12))
d = 1,000 / (2 * 0.0020944)
d = 1,000 / (0.0041888)
d = 238,732
Now you know that the Moon is ~239,000 miles away. You can then use that to measure the size of the Moon, too. You just look at a full Moon and measure the angle between on side of the Moon and the other. You find it to be 0.52 degrees. Now you can solve:
d = 2b * tan(a / 2)
Where d is the diameter of the Moon, b is the distance to the Moon, and a is the measured angular size of the Moon.
d = 2(239,000) * tan(0.52 / 2)
d = 2(239,000) * tan(0.26)
d = 2(239,000) * 0.00453789
d = 2(239,000) * 0.00453789
d = 478000 * 0.00453789
d = 2,169
Congratualtions, you figured out the distance to the Moon to be ~239,000 miles and its diamter to be ~2,170 miles.
LOL at the flat plane trigonometry. Let me know when you actually do that experiment so you can demonstrate how you measure your angles. But you never will and never have done this.
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