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Coolstuff Newsletters

Measurement

Putting Scale in Perspective

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Arbor Scientific

With respect to this globe, how far is 200 miles? Well, look here (pointing to the globe) New York City to Boston is about 200 miles. With respect to this globe, that's about this far. (Holding up his thumb and fore finger barely apart.) Then he asked, "How far out does the Space Shuttle orbit?" Answers are offered all around; 230 miles, 200 miles, 180 miles... Well, it's about 200 miles.

This post was posted in CoolStuff Newsletters, Measurement and was tagged with scale, globe, Earth
Extending Our Senses: Indirect Measurement

Posted on September 1, 2003 by Chris Chiaverina

Everything we experience comes to us through our five senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. While our senses are truly amazing, most of what goes on around us occurs unnoticed. Since we can only see a small range of the electromagnetic spectrum as visible light, we can be in the vicinity of a radio-transmitting tower radiating 50,000watts of power and be totally unaware of its presence.

This post was posted in CoolStuff Newsletters, Measurement and was tagged with indirect measurement, Extending our Senses

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