11

Eratosthenes Experiment AS02

Name Lab Section

Objective
 To estimate the size of the Earth

Materials
View of the Horizon Sunglasses
Calculator Mat or blanket
Stopwatch or Timer App

Procedure
The ancient Greeks not only knew the Earth was round, but they were able to measure its size. The first fairly
accurate determination of Earth’s diameter was made about 2400 years ago by Eratosthenes (276–194 BCE), a
Greek living in Alexandria, Egypt. Only about 50 years after Aristotle described evidence that supported the idea
that the Earth was spherical, Eratosthenes figured out how to measure its circumference. Using shadows,
geometry, and observations of the Sun the size of the Earth could be determined with surprising accuracy.

Eratosthenes was told that on the first day of

summer at Syene, Egypt, sunlight struck the
bottom of a well at noon. This meant that the Sun
must be directly over the well. Otherwise, the
well would have a shadow projected down it. At
the same time and date in Alexandria,
Eratosthenes observed the shadow of a column.
He saw that the column produced a shadow.
Therefore, the Sun was not directly overhead, but
was slightly to the south. This slight angle made it
so that the Sun’s rays made an angle equal to
about 7°.

Because the Sun’s rays striking the two cities are

parallel to one another, why would the two rays
not make the same angle with Earth’s surface?
Eratosthenes reasoned that the curvature of the
Earth meant that “straight up” was not the same
in the two cities. The measurement of the angle in
Alexandria, allowed him to figure out the size of
Earth.

If the angle of the Sun was different by 7° in Alexandria, the city must be 1/50 of Earth’s circumference north of
Syene (7ׄ°/360° ≈ 1/50). Alexandria had been measured to be 5000 stadia north of Syene. (The stadium was a
Greek unit of length, derived from the length of the racetrack in a stadium.) If the common Olympic stadium was
used, this resulted in Eratosthenes’ estimates being 20% too large. However, according to another interpretation,
he used a stadium equal to about 1/6 of a kilometer.
Part A: Ancient Measurements
12 Experiment AS02: Eratosthenes

1. If Alexandria is north of Syene by 1/50 of the circumference of the Earth, and this is equal to 5000 stadia, what
is the total circumference of the Earth in stadia?

Circumference of the Earth

250,000 stadia

2. If the stadia used by Eratosthenes is equal to 1/6 of a kilometer, what is the circumference of the Earth in
kilometers?

Circumference of the Earth

41,666.6 km

3. What is the circumference of the Earth by modern measurements? (Look it up!) How close was Eratosthenes’
estimate to modern measurements?

% difference= |modern value−calculated

modern value
value
|× 100
Modern Measurements % Difference

40,075 km 3.97 %

Part B: Observations of the Sun

In this exercise, you will utilize basic concepts in trigonometry and geometry to derive the radius of the Earth. You
will observe the Sun setting on the western horizon at two different markers and use a timer to time the difference
between the two settings. Alternatively, if you are an early riser, you can do a similar measurement during sunrise
from the eastern horizon. This exercise requires a relatively clear day and should be performed outdoors. It can be
performed indoors if you have an unobstructed view of the horizon. You will need sunglasses, a mat or blanket to
lay on, and a timer (stopwatch or an app on your phone).

As with any activity that involves being outside on a sunny day, please exercise common sense and never look
directly at the midday Sun. This can cause serious eye damage. This exercise will require watching the sunrise or
 13

sunset five times, so you will need a full five days (or more, depending on weather conditions) to complete the
exercise. Plan your time accordingly.

Record your standing height, in meters, in the data table below. For reference, 1-meter equals 39.37 inches.

Look up the local sunset (or sunrise) times. A great source is www.timeanddate.com. If you visit this site, go to the
Sun & Moon tab towards the top and then search your city on the next page. The website will provide sunrise and
sunset times for your area. You will need to begin this experiment a few minutes before sunset (or sunrise).

Write down your location (city/town), date, and local sunset (or sunrise) time in the table below.

 Option 1: Sunset Instructions

I. Just before sunset, lie down on the ground (on a mat or blanket), put on sunglasses, and wait for sunset.

II. As the Sun sets, watch for the last visible edge of the Sun to go below the horizon, start your timer, and
immediately stand up. (The Sun, or a portion of it, should be visible again.)

III. When the Sun sets completely again, stop your timer. Convert this time to hours and record in the table
below. (1 hour = 60 minutes = 3600 seconds.)

 Option 2: Sunrise Instructions

I. Just before sunrise, put on your sunglasses, stand on your mat or blanket, and wait for sunrise.

II. As soon as you see the first edge of the Sun appear, start your timer, and immediately lie down on the
mat. (The Sun should no longer be visible.)

III. When you again see the edge of the Sun begin to rise over the horizon, stop your timer. Convert this time
to hours and record in the table below. (1 hour = 60 minutes = 3600 seconds.)

You have now measured the time it took the Earth to rotate by an angle θ. The Earth takes 24 hours to rotate 360°.
During the time you measured with your timer, the Earth rotated by θ°. Therefore:

Time Elapsed (¿ hours ) θ

= (1)
24 hours 360 °

The angle θ forms a right triangle with its adjacent sides R and R+h, such that R+h is the hypotenuse. In this
exercise, R is the radius of the Earth, and h is your standing height. A trigonometric property of θ is

R
cos θ= (2)
R +h

If we solve this equation for R, which takes a few algebraic steps, we have

h cos θ
R= (3)
1−cos θ
14 Experiment AS02: Eratosthenes

Use this equation, and your value for θ, to calculate the radius of the Earth. Your answer should be in meters.
Record this in the table below.

Repeat this process for a total of five measurements. (Five different days of sunrises or sunsets. Keep in mind there
is one sunrise and one sunset each day.)

How Long Should Your Measurement Take – Sample Calculation

Let’s take a moment to make sure that whatever time we record on our stopwatches for the parts above make
sense. Should your measurement take a minute? A second? 30 seconds? To do this we will start with the last
equation from the previous page, assume a height for our example student, use the known radius of the Earth, and
work backwards.

Let’s assume your height is 5’9”. If we convert this to meters (which can quickly be done with a Google search if
you don’t have the conversion factor conveniently at hand), we find our height as

h=1.75 m

Equation (3) on the previous page allows us to find the radius of the Earth based on someone’s height and the
angle which the Earth rotates in a certain amount of time. Since we know the radius of the Earth (6.378 x10 6 m),
we can rearrange this equation and solve for the angle θ. There are a few steps to solve this, and the final result is

R/h
θ=cos−1
( )
1+
R
h
(4)

Since we know both R and h, we can solve for θ. This value for θ can be used in equation (2). Below, is equation (2)
solved for the time (in hours) that would elapse.

24 hours∗θ
T= (5)
360 °

However, this gives our estimate in hours. To convert to second, just multiply your answer in equation (5) by 3600
(that’s the number of seconds in one hour).
 15

60 min 60 seconds 3600 seconds

1 hour= × =
1 hour 1 minute 1 hour
To reiterate the sample calculation process, enter the value for R (6.378 x106 m) and h (1.75 m) into equation (4)
and solve for θ. Put this value in equation (5) and solve for T. Finally, multiply your value for T by 3600 seconds.

Sample Calculation Estimate Sample Calculation Estimate

3.67 hours 13,212 seconds

You now have an estimate for how long your measurements should take. This will give you an idea if your
measurements make sense while doing this experiment. If you record measurements that are much shorter or way
longer than your estimate, you should evaluate how you did the experiment and try again.

Observations
Time of Time Elapsed
Observation Location Date
Sunset/Sunrise (hours)

1 Salisbury, Md 7/28 6:01am sunrise 0.016hrs

2 Salisbury, Md 7/28 8:16pm sunset 0.266hrs

3 Salisbury, Md 7/30 6:03am sunrise 0.05hrs

4 Salisbury, Md 7/30 8:14pm sunset 0.233hrs

5 Salisbury, Md 8/1 6:05am sunrise 0.0833hrs

16 Experiment AS02: Eratosthenes

Calculations
Time Elapsed
Observation Θ (°) R (m)*105
(hours)

1 0.016hrs 0.24 59.30m

2 0.266hrs 3.99 69.65m

3 0.05hrs 0.75 47.72m

4 0.233hrs 3.495 65.93m

5 0.0833hrs 2.2495 37.96

Average value of R 56.112m

Calculate the percent error between your result of R and the accepted value you looked up earlier.

% difference= |modernmodern
value− your average
value |×100
Modern Measurements % Difference

(6.371 x 106 m 11.92 %