If he didn't assume the suns rays came in paralel to each other, or was absolutely convinced that the earth was flat, he could also have deducted that the sun floated 6560 km. above the earth.
Goddamnit people, Carl Sagan may have opened your eyes, but its up to you to look around!
Eratosthenes had his eyes open, and with a simple understanding of angles, he could easily figure out the earth curves. Think of all the things YOU could discover just by using basic ideas and tools, the possibilities are endless.
@nandob777: The problem is people don't use their brains anymore, they allow computers to do the thinking for them. Kids can't add without the help of a calculator for goodness sake ... god help us..
@celticlofts Well, when you think about it, we all can still think the same amount, the calculator means less thinking necessary for us, so we can explore further into our ideas
And Aristarchus determined that the Earth revolves around the Sun in the 3rd century BC. Unfortunately, we don't know how he came to this conclusion since his works, along with many others, were destroyed in the burning of the Library of Alexandria. :(
Sagan was one of the most intelligent men of All time..He helped us all understand the Truth.not some fairy tale,, or some myth ..but the Truth about the way things are..Sad that some people would rather believe a lie..
No hay prueba de que Eratosthenes haya existido, fué un Mito que le han querido colgar. Los escépticos niegan la existencia de Moisés y de Jesús pero no niegan la existencia de un tipo del que no ha llegado ningún libro, ningún busto con su nombre. Nada que haga pensar de su existencia. Éste es un ejemplo de la hipocresía de los supuestos amadores de la Siensia y no de la Ciencia como lo fué ésta persona.
@A0Candle0In0The0Dark You assume the sun's rays are parallel. Then you use the length of the shadow and the length of the stick at Alexandria to determine the angle. Then he must've assumed that the Earth was a sphere. And then from that he just needed the length between the two sticks to determine the circumference of the Earth.
CARL SAGAN - "Almost no one attempts to educate themselves on the basics of science and technology, yet our society is based on these. TV takes up far too much of our time and is apparently much more attractive to most of us than the beauty and wonder of science. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." - CARL SAGAN
is been proven the erth is not flat, round, squared or at least does not have a final shape is it always compressing and decompressing into this oval shape not only it makes the earth move slightly in angle but it does not stops moving thats the big ? why is earth moving the way is doing it and why at that certain speed for so long or thousands of years, seem like an infinite source capable of holding a whole planet in infinte movement no energy lost or gained to me
@FallenAngel219Jess Because forcing you to do stuff teaches you obedience and dependence. You will grow up feeling like learning can't happen unless someone is forcing you/your children.
OMG!! I just saw a "flying rod"/ "sky fish" 2:25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what those things are; are they real or just bugs?! I don't think any one really knows, but you could totally see it zip by when the camera is looking down that well thing!! Haha cool!
How does one go about using the lengths of shadows to calculate the angle of difference? I thought about forming various triangle using the columns and shadows as a base but then I hit a dead end.
@Icemario87 Drugs are for no lifes. Yes, strictly talking about abused and illegal drags like marijuana and ice.
1. Fair enough. I more so refer to intelligent people in general, there's no need for escape.
2. Indeed, in this case.
3. Do I even need to answer this? When you delude yourself to the point of seeing flying unicorns, you have escaped reality. I really can't be bothered playing semantics of "reality" here.
4. For pathetic low lives who amount to nothing, yes.
@Krazed2Kraze "When you delude yourself to the point of seeing flying unicorns, you have escaped reality." you really think people that smoke marijuana see flying unicorns? You don't even see colors, everything looks exactly the same. You're just showing your ignorance.
"Drugs are for no lifes." If you think Carl Sagan's a "no life", you're a no life. "Yes, strictly talking about abused and illegal drags like marijuana and ice." Just goes to show you're brainwashed.
@Krazed2Kraze I bet you actually think marijuana is bad.
I challenge you to open google and type in, verbatim: "marijuana cancer"
But before you do so, I want you to predict whether the search results will lean more toward "marijuana causes cancer" versus "marijuana cures cancer."
Write your choice down before searching. And don't forget, have fun!
@Icemario87 I realize marijuana has medicanal uses. Are you telling me ever pot head has cancer? No, the people that DO use it are pathetic. Legalizing marijuana for medicine purposes is a whole other issue, and my decision on that depends strictly on how far away it's kept from people who abuse it.
Fact of the matter is, I have, for good reason, a large prejudice against people who abuse drugs, ever since my youth. And yes, they are low lives, and marijuana is bad in a pothead's hand.
@Krazed2Kraze Just passed by and noticed your comment. Why do you think people enjoying drugs (which includes alcohol mind you) is such a bad thing? Granted, abuse is never good, but people abuse slot machines. It's not the substance, it's the person using it.
@Canterwoodcore Because I've watched my friends waste their lives on them. While I understand your more laid back view on it, I simply can't come to terms with how a shot of heroin is productive in any circumstances. There are so many ways to enjoy life, it just doesn't sit well with me that so many people think escaping from that life is the best way to do it.
@Krazed2Kraze I can see how personal experience would influence your opinion heavily, and I'm sorry your friends wasted their lives. Though using drugs isn't necessarily an escape, it can also be an affirmation.
The whole church flat Earth thing is really just a myth, nobody seriously believed the Earth to be flat even the majority of Catholic scholars. Persecution was to do with the geocentric view of the world being changed to the heliocentric view.
Really? Then how come in the 700s, St Boniface accused Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg of teaching "a perverse and sinful doctrine" that was "against God," "regarding the sphericity of the earth"?
@solorak For the purpose of most fundamental physics, it is. Unless you increase the scale of the problem on hand, the world for all intensive purposes will be flat.
The Earth being flat would break almost every fundamental law of physics. You do not seem to realize that the Earth being an oblate spheroid vs being flat is extremely important. For example if the Earth were flat the fastest way for a plane to fly from London to New York would be straight across the atlantic (assuming the Earth were like a standard Earth map) as the Earth is not flat it is faster to travel over the Arctic.
@solorak Apparently this was never true. According to super intelligent quiz show QI which is based on very odd questions people have known the earth was round for many years, including the mass populace. Apparently.
@Vigadeath "many years" is not a precise measurement of time. I will grant you that people did speculate that the Earth was spherical dating back more than 2000 years (watch the video). However this isn't about them this is about medieval Christian Europe where people did think that the Earth was flat.
Says something, doesn't this? More than two thousand years ago, a scientist used a stick to a) realise the Earth was curved and b) measure the size of the Earth--USING A STICK. That's pretty damn incredible.
Meanwhile, in Europe, right up until about a few centuries ago, the Church ruthlessly persecuted anyone who said the Earth was not flat, and the general belief was that the Earth was the centre of the universe--some still believe it.
If i lived in that time i wouldn't belive it and claimed that the sun is tiny compaired to the earth, the sunrays are angeld(not the sticks) and use Eratosthenes experement to calculate the hight of the sun.
Tan(90°-7°)*800km=6.515Mm (Megameter or 6515 km)
I know its a utterly retarded statement to make these days, but thats what i would have belived those days.
I'm wondering what ignorant and retarded ideas i'm beliving in these days...
wait! y was that guy wearin a big coat + a turtl nek thing?! wasnt that in lik egypt or somewere where its lik 10000000 degreees?! =) who is that guy anyway? hes lik a million years oold dont people die when ther oldddd? u kno wat would mak that vid better?! if he was in a chiken suit! =D LOLZ!
@14ledzeppelin14 Yes you are right....I shouldnt feed the trolls lol. I'm sorry. It just amazes me how an idiot like that finds a Carl Sagan video on the internet. Shouldnt he be watching Xbox videos arguing with PS3 fanboys about who has the best system?
If you imagine a flat Earth, with the Sun as a 60km (37mi) diameter sphere, which at noon hangs 6515 km (4048mi) directly above Saiin (that southernmost obelisk on the map), the perspective effect would also yield 7-degree shadows at the northernmost obelisk.
I guess we just got lucky this time, that Eratosthenes picked the right answer... ^_^
Except then we would never observe solar eclipses because the Moon would always lie further away from Earth than the Sun. It was solar eclipses, studied by Pythagoras, which first led to an estimate of how far away the Sun is from Earth. The answer was not very accurate but it did establish that the distance was large (and hence the Sun must be large to appear as big as it does in the sky), and this was known to Eratosthenes prior to when he made his calculations. Good point though!
Since Aristarchus, ~200 BC, it was known that the distance from the Earth to the Sun is many times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. It was also known that the Sun's diameter is many times greater than the Earth's. A Sun much bigger than the Earth at a distance much farther from the Moon, Eratosthenes reasoned, must be so distant that the 7-degree shadow he measured could not be due to the perspective effect alone (ie yer #'s = bs).
listen: "sticks at different angles to the sun's rays will cast shadows of different lengths. so the observed difference in the shadow lengths--the distance between alexandria and sayeen (sp?)--had to be about 7 degrees along the surface of the earth. by that i mean if you imagine these sticks extending all the way down to the center of the earth they would there intersect at an angle of about 7 degrees. 7 degrees is something like a fiftieth of the full circumference of the earth: 360 degrees"
Man that was just awesome. Stuff like this makes me stand in awe over the ability of the human race. I mean holy shit... the guy figured out the size of the earth 2200 years ago. Imagine the potential we had as a race before stupid myths and beliefs cast us into the dark ages. Makes you think... what would the world be like if the scientific revolution would have begun in the year 500? Thanks alot Jesus :(
Never said that but what i meant was that myths and religion share the same purpose and credibility. They're quick fix answers for natures mysteries. Many polythieistic religions use their gods to explain natures wonders f.e. Thor: the god of thunder, Appolon the sun god and so on. and then of course there are old myths like the moon is made of cheese, the earth is flat and the boogyman. If the human race never would have doubted these answers we wouldn't have modern science.
people who aren't actually naturally intelligent whereas in the past for any entertainment whatsoever you had to inform yourself. Now we have a horrible combination of not naturally gifted people also choosing to be uninformed so their stupidity and self assurance knows no boundaries because they've never had to question themselves. TV isn't what caused it, a lack of inquisitiveness and ambition with the option to watch simple entertainment shows caused it. TV is the democracy spreader.
No no no, you don't blame the medium of communication, you can get just as much information from television as you can from a book. The problem with the medium of television and now the internet is that to receive information the average person who may not be as inquisitive as a person watching a Carl Sagan video now has the choice and means to ignore subjects they don't want to think about. Television also informs those of us who are interested, what we're seeing now is the true number of...
Well, just look at certain parts of the middle east andtribal parts of South America and Africa. They are well behind in civilization and technology, so it gives you an idea of where we would be.
The main reason he was off by a few percent is that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, which Eratosthenes assumed it was. I am sure there was some error in the pacing of the 800 km as well, which would also contribute to being off by a little bit. But it is amazing what Eratosthenes did, he is truly a genius.
Of course there is another explanation. Eratothenes' 'proof' relies on the sun being effectively infinitely far away.
Try this experiment:
stick a pencil into somehing that'll hold it upright directly under a ceiling light. Not the lack of shadow. Now move the pencil ten feet away, note the long shadow. Does this prove your floor is curved? of course not.
Now imagine the sun is a smallish ball of light only a few thousand miles away...
acualy your floor is curved so little though that you cant tell even with the most powerful flat measurey thing (yeh iforgot the name its the one with the bubbles and the lines)
The sun is so far away and so much larger than the earth that the rays are effectively parallel when they reach us. It's a reliable proof. You cannot compare a light bulb on the ceiling and a pencil 9 feet below to the sun and a stick on the earth 93 million miles away.
That's my point. It just occurred to me that if Eratothenes proved the earth was curved by taking the fact that the sun was effectively infinitely far away as a given, a particularly astute flat-earther could have used my argument against him, arguing that the sun was a relatively nearby smallish ball of fire under the dome with the stars on it or whatever. Of course in reality he wasn't proving earth curvature, that was presumably accepted, he was actually calculating the size of the earth.
Human ingenuity. A fine example of our species. Too bad the rest of us were equally inventive in our carefully inhibited imaginations. The world might have been a different place if it had listened to people like this.
i dont understand how he would have known it was seven degrees, with out calculating the length of the shadow or something, and carl did not motion that he made some kind of calculation to figure out that it was seven degrees, so how did he know it was seven degrees? And not something ales
The Eastern world accepted it, pretty much as soon as it was proven. The European christian would continue holding the belief because the Catholic Church said it and believing differently would get you imprisoned or worse.
Good question; It's tragic and terrifying our desire to bury our head under the sand of faith and ignorance, tendency that pops up after a great cycle of discovery.
In the US now Evolution vs Creationism? Have we not regressed from the Enlightenment and even decades ago when Evolution was assumed to be foundational? Growing up there was no question about whether Evolution was fact, it was. Now, up is down and down is up, faith is replacing science, again. And we have less excuse for it.
@ItsameAlex Yes, and so was Ptolemy. With Alexander's conquest of the known world, that part of Egypt had become part of his empire. When Alexander died, Ptolemy took over that part of the world. Cleopatra was Greek too.
Every time I hear this story it literally gives me goose bumps - it seems like such a simple calculation knowing what we know now, but that Eratosthenes not only deduced that the earth was a sphere but actually worked out its correct size, given the tools available to him at the time, is absolutely breathtaking.
Not only that; he was able to connect the dots and discover something so profound from something that could easily be passed off as trivial. Really one best examples of scientific thinking in history.
anybody knows what is the music at 5:00 ??
Tomikk86 1 week ago
If he didn't assume the suns rays came in paralel to each other, or was absolutely convinced that the earth was flat, he could also have deducted that the sun floated 6560 km. above the earth.
fritspas 1 week ago
love him
foldingspace20xx 1 week ago
4 ppl must have been lacking one of these: sticks, eyes, feet, brains... probably the latter.
arodreth 2 weeks ago
Brilliant Beethoven
Huddiethegreat 3 weeks ago
@Huddiethegreat at 5:00 - beautiful piece of music! did you know it mate? it's perfectly suiting with his speech!
Tomikk86 1 week ago
Goddamnit people, Carl Sagan may have opened your eyes, but its up to you to look around!
Eratosthenes had his eyes open, and with a simple understanding of angles, he could easily figure out the earth curves. Think of all the things YOU could discover just by using basic ideas and tools, the possibilities are endless.
nandob777 1 month ago
@nandob777: The problem is people don't use their brains anymore, they allow computers to do the thinking for them. Kids can't add without the help of a calculator for goodness sake ... god help us..
celticlofts 2 weeks ago
@celticlofts Well, when you think about it, we all can still think the same amount, the calculator means less thinking necessary for us, so we can explore further into our ideas
nandob777 1 week ago
Accuracy of Eratosthenes calculation was less than 1%.
nickreserved 1 month ago
@nickreserved err.. "error" on Eratosthenes calculation was less than 1%.
nickreserved 1 month ago
WTF? how can ANYONE dislike this?!
OyonTheAdept 2 months ago
So basically this Greek guy found the circumference of the world with a fucking stick....
UnaFatsaUnaRasta22 2 months ago 8
@UnaFatsaUnaRasta22 ya. How epic is ths shit?
spyros07 2 months ago
@UnaFatsaUnaRasta22
And Aristarchus determined that the Earth revolves around the Sun in the 3rd century BC. Unfortunately, we don't know how he came to this conclusion since his works, along with many others, were destroyed in the burning of the Library of Alexandria. :(
AgApE010 1 month ago
I must learn to communicate like this man.
Nooreazy 2 months ago
Sagan was one of the most intelligent men of All time..He helped us all understand the Truth.not some fairy tale,, or some myth ..but the Truth about the way things are..Sad that some people would rather believe a lie..
jimmyofaden 2 months ago
Si, pero es mas facil creer que existio un hombre increiblemente inteligente que se preocupo por hacer descubrimientos que un tio que hacia magia.
crespoo0 2 months ago
Nothing can be boring when Carl Sagan says it. It's like Morgan Freeman.
flyersphan111 2 months ago
No hay prueba de que Eratosthenes haya existido, fué un Mito que le han querido colgar. Los escépticos niegan la existencia de Moisés y de Jesús pero no niegan la existencia de un tipo del que no ha llegado ningún libro, ningún busto con su nombre. Nada que haga pensar de su existencia. Éste es un ejemplo de la hipocresía de los supuestos amadores de la Siensia y no de la Ciencia como lo fué ésta persona.
ACERTIXO2002 2 months ago
@ACERTIXO2002 hay hablado tonterias cabron
pedrokobuti 2 months ago
I could watch Carl Sagan talk about diarrhea.
umdemocrata 3 months ago
Comment removed
umdemocrata 3 months ago
How did Eratosthenes figure out that the degree of the angle between the two sticks was 7 degrees?
A0Candle0In0The0Dark 3 months ago
@A0Candle0In0The0Dark You assume the sun's rays are parallel. Then you use the length of the shadow and the length of the stick at Alexandria to determine the angle. Then he must've assumed that the Earth was a sphere. And then from that he just needed the length between the two sticks to determine the circumference of the Earth.
BornThrice 3 months ago
why does this have 4 dislikes??
Whatwon1 3 months ago
@Whatwon1 Flat Earth Theorists ? Lol
forgottenmemories63 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
CARL SAGAN - "Almost no one attempts to educate themselves on the basics of science and technology, yet our society is based on these. TV takes up far too much of our time and is apparently much more attractive to most of us than the beauty and wonder of science. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." - CARL SAGAN
TheLogicalBrain 3 months ago
I'm going to watch this whole thing again!
pouyaouya 3 months ago
Carl Sagan > God !!!
MegaSuperLady 4 months ago
Does anyone know the song that starts at 1:42?
armonthereaper 4 months ago
@armonthereaper Sounds like it might be by Vangelis.
DoctorNociceptor 4 months ago
@DoctorNociceptor It does sound like Vangelis. If it is I would love to know which track specifically.
armonthereaper 3 months ago
Wow!! Amazing!!
TheMuslimAtheist 4 months ago
is been proven the erth is not flat, round, squared or at least does not have a final shape is it always compressing and decompressing into this oval shape not only it makes the earth move slightly in angle but it does not stops moving thats the big ? why is earth moving the way is doing it and why at that certain speed for so long or thousands of years, seem like an infinite source capable of holding a whole planet in infinte movement no energy lost or gained to me
chukaz1 4 months ago
"the earth was flat, if you went to far, you would fall off/ now the earth is round if the shape change again everybody woulda start laugh"
Damian Marley, Patience
LaPersonaNonGrata 4 months ago
@FallenAngel219Jess Because forcing you to do stuff teaches you obedience and dependence. You will grow up feeling like learning can't happen unless someone is forcing you/your children.
ion010101 5 months ago
@FallenAngel219Jess Might have something to do with Eratosthenes and the method in which he calculated the Earth's circumference.
RojOdio 6 months ago
it seems clear, in many fields, eratosthenes was. ALPHA
tanz178 6 months ago 4
OMG!! I just saw a "flying rod"/ "sky fish" 2:25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what those things are; are they real or just bugs?! I don't think any one really knows, but you could totally see it zip by when the camera is looking down that well thing!! Haha cool!
blacklanternz 6 months ago
Carl Sagan, é um dos melhores pensadores que já viveram neste mundo, ele é um Fernão Capelo Gaivota no nosso mundo ,
LUIZDEMEDEIROS 6 months ago
Now that I have explained how the universe works, I shall theoretically roll the biggest blunt you could ever smoke.
TheButcherClan 7 months ago 4
i wish carl sagan was inside my head, narrating my day for me.
octemberfury 7 months ago 65
@octemberfury he can be....you just gotta believe..........
Fichengafter 2 months ago
@octemberfury haha :)
JayDee98765 2 weeks ago
0_0 he explains it in such a simple way
It never fails to amuse me 8D
DarkZholt 7 months ago
i never undersood this concept until now ... he is better than teacher :D
MrSupa321 7 months ago
nerd-gasm
heyandy889 7 months ago
Carl Sagan: an Inspiration for us all, as humans and students of the universe.
Whatwon1 8 months ago 2
i am a carl saganist:D
RCHSwackness 8 months ago 4
Wot a cunt
TheWestgate01 8 months ago
@TheWestgate01 What are you talking about?
Roflcopter4b 8 months ago
It's a pile of shite :D
TheWestgate01 8 months ago
Alpha as fuck
evilmamaluigi 8 months ago
I wanna throw up every time the library of Alexandria is mentioned.
poooop83 9 months ago
@poooop83 Why?
Roflcopter4b 8 months ago
@Roflcopter4b because as a future librarian and book lover it makes me sad to think of all that was lost
poooop83 8 months ago
@poooop83 Ah. The way you worded that made it seem more like you hated it. My mistake. I would give anything to see that library.
Roflcopter4b 8 months ago 2
the video can only be described with 1 word
RAPE
Xyno1100 9 months ago
alpha as fuck
hanslol 10 months ago
im pretty sure that brown jacket of his is the reason he is so smart
mabney11 10 months ago 2
Is that Beethoven's 8th?
NegativeNick 11 months ago
@NegativeNick 7th - mov 1
nanotechxe 10 months ago
0:58 Dat face turn
kato1799 11 months ago
back when people actually knew math and used it rather than complaining about how it allegedly doesn't have any real world applications.
Sturmdude 11 months ago 2
How does one go about using the lengths of shadows to calculate the angle of difference? I thought about forming various triangle using the columns and shadows as a base but then I hit a dead end.
Vigadeath 11 months ago
BUT THE EARTH IS FLAT!
grimtendo 1 year ago 43
Why are people talking about heroin.....Its a Carl Sagan video!!
Nolanhod 1 year ago 3
i owe this guy a lot, when i was 7 years old i stumbled upon a book of his, cosmos
at the school library; and it changed my life. Thank you Mr. Sagan, wherever you are.
thehorusprojekt 1 year ago
Great explanation of profesor Sagan.... and musical background magnificent Beethoven 7th symphony
verdi0381 1 year ago
WOW! Spaniards, Italians, and English people ( Christopher Colombus Time), Are fucking retards
NicoLico17 1 year ago
I wonder how many times a day Sagan smoked a bowl..
distubedrat 1 year ago
@distubedrat Learning strange theories and perceptions, usually takes the absence of any intoxicants.
NicoLico17 1 year ago
@distubedrat I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was "never". Why escape from reality when you love it to begin with.
Krazed2Kraze 1 year ago
"@Krazed2Kraze "I wonder how many times a day Sagan smoked a bowl.." -distubedrat
"I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was "never". Why escape from reality when you love it to begin with." - you
1. Do your research
2. You'll be surprised
3. How does "smoking a bowl" (assumedly of marijuana) equate to "escaping reality"? Reality is everywhere, you can't escape it
4. Marijuana is one of the better parts of reality
5. Do your research
Icemario87 1 year ago
@Icemario87 Drugs are for no lifes. Yes, strictly talking about abused and illegal drags like marijuana and ice.
1. Fair enough. I more so refer to intelligent people in general, there's no need for escape.
2. Indeed, in this case.
3. Do I even need to answer this? When you delude yourself to the point of seeing flying unicorns, you have escaped reality. I really can't be bothered playing semantics of "reality" here.
4. For pathetic low lives who amount to nothing, yes.
Krazed2Kraze 1 year ago
@Krazed2Kraze "When you delude yourself to the point of seeing flying unicorns, you have escaped reality." you really think people that smoke marijuana see flying unicorns? You don't even see colors, everything looks exactly the same. You're just showing your ignorance.
"Drugs are for no lifes." If you think Carl Sagan's a "no life", you're a no life. "Yes, strictly talking about abused and illegal drags like marijuana and ice." Just goes to show you're brainwashed.
Do your research.
Icemario87 1 year ago
@Krazed2Kraze I bet you actually think marijuana is bad.
I challenge you to open google and type in, verbatim: "marijuana cancer"
But before you do so, I want you to predict whether the search results will lean more toward "marijuana causes cancer" versus "marijuana cures cancer."
Write your choice down before searching. And don't forget, have fun!
Icemario87 1 year ago
@Icemario87 I realize marijuana has medicanal uses. Are you telling me ever pot head has cancer? No, the people that DO use it are pathetic. Legalizing marijuana for medicine purposes is a whole other issue, and my decision on that depends strictly on how far away it's kept from people who abuse it.
Fact of the matter is, I have, for good reason, a large prejudice against people who abuse drugs, ever since my youth. And yes, they are low lives, and marijuana is bad in a pothead's hand.
Krazed2Kraze 1 year ago
@Krazed2Kraze Wow. Ok. I guess you know everything there is to know.
Icemario87 1 year ago
@Icemario87 What a silly response. But I'll agree to end the silly conversation.
Krazed2Kraze 1 year ago
@Krazed2Kraze Just passed by and noticed your comment. Why do you think people enjoying drugs (which includes alcohol mind you) is such a bad thing? Granted, abuse is never good, but people abuse slot machines. It's not the substance, it's the person using it.
Canterwoodcore 1 year ago
@Canterwoodcore Because I've watched my friends waste their lives on them. While I understand your more laid back view on it, I simply can't come to terms with how a shot of heroin is productive in any circumstances. There are so many ways to enjoy life, it just doesn't sit well with me that so many people think escaping from that life is the best way to do it.
Krazed2Kraze 1 year ago
@Krazed2Kraze I can see how personal experience would influence your opinion heavily, and I'm sorry your friends wasted their lives. Though using drugs isn't necessarily an escape, it can also be an affirmation.
Canterwoodcore 1 year ago
The whole church flat Earth thing is really just a myth, nobody seriously believed the Earth to be flat even the majority of Catholic scholars. Persecution was to do with the geocentric view of the world being changed to the heliocentric view.
Clarkyguy 1 year ago
@Clarkyguy
Really? Then how come in the 700s, St Boniface accused Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg of teaching "a perverse and sinful doctrine" that was "against God," "regarding the sphericity of the earth"?
TheJeiss 1 year ago
@TheJeiss Hence the term the majority.
Clarkyguy 1 year ago
@Clarkyguy
The majority of people up until about 400 years ago thought the Earth was flat.
solorak 1 year ago
@solorak For the purpose of most fundamental physics, it is. Unless you increase the scale of the problem on hand, the world for all intensive purposes will be flat.
plzplz12232 1 year ago
@plzplz12232
The Earth being flat would break almost every fundamental law of physics. You do not seem to realize that the Earth being an oblate spheroid vs being flat is extremely important. For example if the Earth were flat the fastest way for a plane to fly from London to New York would be straight across the atlantic (assuming the Earth were like a standard Earth map) as the Earth is not flat it is faster to travel over the Arctic.
solorak 1 year ago
@solorak Apparently this was never true. According to super intelligent quiz show QI which is based on very odd questions people have known the earth was round for many years, including the mass populace. Apparently.
Vigadeath 1 year ago
@Vigadeath "many years" is not a precise measurement of time. I will grant you that people did speculate that the Earth was spherical dating back more than 2000 years (watch the video). However this isn't about them this is about medieval Christian Europe where people did think that the Earth was flat.
solorak 1 year ago
Says something, doesn't this? More than two thousand years ago, a scientist used a stick to a) realise the Earth was curved and b) measure the size of the Earth--USING A STICK. That's pretty damn incredible.
Meanwhile, in Europe, right up until about a few centuries ago, the Church ruthlessly persecuted anyone who said the Earth was not flat, and the general belief was that the Earth was the centre of the universe--some still believe it.
Yep, kinda tells you a few things....
IAmThey0 1 year ago
Hory shet
JakeAus2k8 1 year ago
If i lived in that time i wouldn't belive it and claimed that the sun is tiny compaired to the earth, the sunrays are angeld(not the sticks) and use Eratosthenes experement to calculate the hight of the sun.
Tan(90°-7°)*800km=6.515Mm (Megameter or 6515 km)
I know its a utterly retarded statement to make these days, but thats what i would have belived those days.
I'm wondering what ignorant and retarded ideas i'm beliving in these days...
Ps. sorry for my bad english
wybo2 1 year ago
i like his stylish bowl haircut.
ChristianToker 1 year ago
there are still people how think the world is fucking flat
aaron9797 1 year ago
@aaron9797 Why the hell would anyone still believe that? Completely retarded creationists.
CRISNCHIPS12398 1 year ago
all i have to say is Thank carl sagan!
keep being nerds we run the world !!
hhahah!!
duhhh187 1 year ago
This guy blew my mind when I was a kid and became one of my heroes! Too bad he is no longer with us.
davidjradich 1 year ago
How did this scientist found out that the difference between this 2 cities is 7 degrees?
apspacking 1 year ago
@apspacking If you were to pay attention to what the man is saying, he explained it.
davidjradich 1 year ago
@apspacking because in Alexandria a stick would need to be tilted 7 deg to cast no shadow on June 21.
edouard67 1 year ago
june 21st.. my birthday :D
which was 4 and a half hours ago
JoeyS880 1 year ago 2
Amazing how lack of resorce (be it funding or connection) can produce genius. It is natures law and it is beautiful.
weepingod 1 year ago 3
Amazing how lack of resorce (be it funding or connection) can produce genius. It is natures law and it is beautiful.
weepingod 1 year ago 2
i think he wanted to be at a windy place to show he doesn't actually have a wig.
cluecluefinder 1 year ago 5
siemens...haha
menaceblake 1 year ago
a "rod" at 2:25. lol
setheroon1 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
wait! y was that guy wearin a big coat + a turtl nek thing?! wasnt that in lik egypt or somewere where its lik 10000000 degreees?! =) who is that guy anyway? hes lik a million years oold dont people die when ther oldddd? u kno wat would mak that vid better?! if he was in a chiken suit! =D LOLZ!
FreeRun4lif 1 year ago
@FreeRun4lif Not many people can make a complete fool of themselves in a mere 5 sentences. Congratulations my friend =)
Ken30NYC 1 year ago 7
@Ken30NYC Not many people can miss a troll that obvious, even when its hammered into them in 5 sentences. Congratulations my friend =)
14ledzeppelin14 1 year ago
@14ledzeppelin14 Yes you are right....I shouldnt feed the trolls lol. I'm sorry. It just amazes me how an idiot like that finds a Carl Sagan video on the internet. Shouldnt he be watching Xbox videos arguing with PS3 fanboys about who has the best system?
Ken30NYC 1 year ago
If you imagine a flat Earth, with the Sun as a 60km (37mi) diameter sphere, which at noon hangs 6515 km (4048mi) directly above Saiin (that southernmost obelisk on the map), the perspective effect would also yield 7-degree shadows at the northernmost obelisk.
I guess we just got lucky this time, that Eratosthenes picked the right answer... ^_^
AssemblerGuy 2 years ago
Except then we would never observe solar eclipses because the Moon would always lie further away from Earth than the Sun. It was solar eclipses, studied by Pythagoras, which first led to an estimate of how far away the Sun is from Earth. The answer was not very accurate but it did establish that the distance was large (and hence the Sun must be large to appear as big as it does in the sky), and this was known to Eratosthenes prior to when he made his calculations. Good point though!
Gazzar 2 years ago
@AssemblerGuy
Nice try. E-Toss still wins.
Since Aristarchus, ~200 BC, it was known that the distance from the Earth to the Sun is many times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. It was also known that the Sun's diameter is many times greater than the Earth's. A Sun much bigger than the Earth at a distance much farther from the Moon, Eratosthenes reasoned, must be so distant that the 7-degree shadow he measured could not be due to the perspective effect alone (ie yer #'s = bs).
marriedex 1 year ago
Sagan rocks. Cosmos is my Bible.
grundgemonster 2 years ago 38
The best tool of the ancient world. Zest for experimentation. The best tool of the current world, Duct tape.
Vennificus 2 years ago 7
wow ,, thx a lot drone 81 ,,,thank u ....
Blu09 2 years ago
hey guys ,, can sumbody please telme why he multiplied it by 50 ????
Blu09 2 years ago
Comment removed
bruinjogger 2 years ago
360 degrees / 7 degrees = 51.4 = about 50
bruinjogger 2 years ago
sry ,, but y divide by 7??
thx a lot
Blu09 2 years ago
listen: "sticks at different angles to the sun's rays will cast shadows of different lengths. so the observed difference in the shadow lengths--the distance between alexandria and sayeen (sp?)--had to be about 7 degrees along the surface of the earth. by that i mean if you imagine these sticks extending all the way down to the center of the earth they would there intersect at an angle of about 7 degrees. 7 degrees is something like a fiftieth of the full circumference of the earth: 360 degrees"
drone81 2 years ago
@Blu09
360 degrees is full circumference of a circle or sphere.
7 * 51.42 = 360
The 7 degrees is the portion of the circumfrance that is 850 miles between the two cities. Since it is 1/51.42 part of the Earth you need to:
850 * 51.42 to find a circumference of ~43707. I hope I didn't confuse you more.
turoturothegreat 2 years ago 2
Man that was just awesome. Stuff like this makes me stand in awe over the ability of the human race. I mean holy shit... the guy figured out the size of the earth 2200 years ago. Imagine the potential we had as a race before stupid myths and beliefs cast us into the dark ages. Makes you think... what would the world be like if the scientific revolution would have begun in the year 500? Thanks alot Jesus :(
Birkirrey 2 years ago
wow, i cant even imagine what life would be like now if the enlightenment had occured in 500
MCDon17 2 years ago
Myths aren't always religious in form ;)
Nascentthinker 2 years ago
Never said that but what i meant was that myths and religion share the same purpose and credibility. They're quick fix answers for natures mysteries. Many polythieistic religions use their gods to explain natures wonders f.e. Thor: the god of thunder, Appolon the sun god and so on. and then of course there are old myths like the moon is made of cheese, the earth is flat and the boogyman. If the human race never would have doubted these answers we wouldn't have modern science.
Peace
Birkirrey 2 years ago
oh Sagan i have an intellectual crush on you..
;)
PhillipThunderGrunge 2 years ago 100
@PhillipThunderGrunge I have a very sexual crush on Carl Sagan. I want to eat his pubes like a salad.
DrWinstonRelthford 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
This is GAY.
sancho000 2 years ago
@sancho000 you're gay
phacopidrama 2 years ago
people who aren't actually naturally intelligent whereas in the past for any entertainment whatsoever you had to inform yourself. Now we have a horrible combination of not naturally gifted people also choosing to be uninformed so their stupidity and self assurance knows no boundaries because they've never had to question themselves. TV isn't what caused it, a lack of inquisitiveness and ambition with the option to watch simple entertainment shows caused it. TV is the democracy spreader.
bistrosidecar 2 years ago 2
No no no, you don't blame the medium of communication, you can get just as much information from television as you can from a book. The problem with the medium of television and now the internet is that to receive information the average person who may not be as inquisitive as a person watching a Carl Sagan video now has the choice and means to ignore subjects they don't want to think about. Television also informs those of us who are interested, what we're seeing now is the true number of...
bistrosidecar 2 years ago
look closely at 2:20-2:25 when you see the well. at around 2:25 you can clearly see a skyrod flying.
strijkbout12 2 years ago
r u serious or just retarded
gavinsstuff 2 years ago
They are called insects...
Diruo 2 years ago
Skyrod? I see it, but what is it?
wetmackeral 2 years ago
It's a good thing he concluded the earth was round and did not try to calculate how far the sun was from a flat earth.
Kukenango 2 years ago
LOL
9winDuDown9 2 years ago
I swear to god if it wasnt for this guy, Newton, and a handful of other scientists we'd all still be living in caves right now
atwood8371 2 years ago 73
Well, just look at certain parts of the middle east andtribal parts of South America and Africa. They are well behind in civilization and technology, so it gives you an idea of where we would be.
SkeksisRule 2 years ago
@atwood8371 Seeing as the scientists you mentioned came after we were already out of the caves, I doubt that.
flailspound 1 year ago 3
@atwood8371 no you would be brainwashed & lost in religions as a foundamentalist lol
Ilir7777 1 year ago
@atwood8371 That seems silly, considering that Newton, Sagan, and most other scientists weren't raised in caves.
DrWinstonRelthford 1 year ago 6
@atwood8371 Eratosthenes or Carl Sagan?
TranslatorCarminum 1 year ago
@atwood8371 That some people still swear to god makes me think they are not that far away from the caves.
astaridk 1 year ago
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atwood8371 2 years ago
Kudos to the guy who paced up the 800km.
If Eratosthenes was wrong with only a few %, logically that mean Mr Walk & Measure was only wrong by a few %.
Thats dedication, because theres plenty of room for cheating on a 800km hike.
820423 2 years ago 6
The main reason he was off by a few percent is that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, which Eratosthenes assumed it was. I am sure there was some error in the pacing of the 800 km as well, which would also contribute to being off by a little bit. But it is amazing what Eratosthenes did, he is truly a genius.
CENSOREDFORSEX 2 years ago
That's it! Move on over Rocky Balboa! Eratosthenes is my new hero!
Oipunxunite 2 years ago 7
Eratosthenes makes Rocky look like a little bitch.
themagus187 2 years ago 7
Of course there is another explanation. Eratothenes' 'proof' relies on the sun being effectively infinitely far away.
Try this experiment:
stick a pencil into somehing that'll hold it upright directly under a ceiling light. Not the lack of shadow. Now move the pencil ten feet away, note the long shadow. Does this prove your floor is curved? of course not.
Now imagine the sun is a smallish ball of light only a few thousand miles away...
G7ennx 2 years ago
acualy your floor is curved so little though that you cant tell even with the most powerful flat measurey thing (yeh iforgot the name its the one with the bubbles and the lines)
cashcrew666 2 years ago
really, it is? why?
casplash4 2 years ago
The sun is so far away and so much larger than the earth that the rays are effectively parallel when they reach us. It's a reliable proof. You cannot compare a light bulb on the ceiling and a pencil 9 feet below to the sun and a stick on the earth 93 million miles away.
F0XD1E 2 years ago 4
That's my point. It just occurred to me that if Eratothenes proved the earth was curved by taking the fact that the sun was effectively infinitely far away as a given, a particularly astute flat-earther could have used my argument against him, arguing that the sun was a relatively nearby smallish ball of fire under the dome with the stars on it or whatever. Of course in reality he wasn't proving earth curvature, that was presumably accepted, he was actually calculating the size of the earth.
G7ennx 2 years ago
ONELOVE
bearr7 2 years ago
Human ingenuity. A fine example of our species. Too bad the rest of us were equally inventive in our carefully inhibited imaginations. The world might have been a different place if it had listened to people like this.
ninjamaritz 2 years ago 4
oh nvm i guess i missed it the first time around
samuelx41 2 years ago
i dont understand how he would have known it was seven degrees, with out calculating the length of the shadow or something, and carl did not motion that he made some kind of calculation to figure out that it was seven degrees, so how did he know it was seven degrees? And not something ales
samuelx41 2 years ago
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DoubleDutchBust 2 years ago
Beautiful in its simplicity!
After Eratosthenes proof how could anyone still believe the earth was flat (for the next 14 centuries)??
rwnministries 2 years ago 4
The Eastern world accepted it, pretty much as soon as it was proven. The European christian would continue holding the belief because the Catholic Church said it and believing differently would get you imprisoned or worse.
Veyrall 2 years ago
Sheer force of unwill. ;)
GumbaMasta 2 years ago
Good question; It's tragic and terrifying our desire to bury our head under the sand of faith and ignorance, tendency that pops up after a great cycle of discovery.
In the US now Evolution vs Creationism? Have we not regressed from the Enlightenment and even decades ago when Evolution was assumed to be foundational? Growing up there was no question about whether Evolution was fact, it was. Now, up is down and down is up, faith is replacing science, again. And we have less excuse for it.
Fabstaire 2 years ago 4
thank you Carl..I enjoy much your company.
likemusicwhat 2 years ago 4
christianity should have total ripped this from the egyptians
MysticREC 2 years ago
@MysticREC
Eratosthenes was Greek.
ItsameAlex 1 year ago
@ItsameAlex Yes, and so was Ptolemy. With Alexander's conquest of the known world, that part of Egypt had become part of his empire. When Alexander died, Ptolemy took over that part of the world. Cleopatra was Greek too.
davidjradich 1 year ago
@ItsameAlex
And Egyptians were before the Greek. That was my point.
MysticREC 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Yes Carl Sagan was a homosexual who enjoyed moon-lit beach walks. He had a cat. He wore pantyhose & he loved Oreo cookies.
AsEasyAsEasyIs 2 years ago
Every time I hear this story it literally gives me goose bumps - it seems like such a simple calculation knowing what we know now, but that Eratosthenes not only deduced that the earth was a sphere but actually worked out its correct size, given the tools available to him at the time, is absolutely breathtaking.
blaarp 2 years ago 3
Not only that; he was able to connect the dots and discover something so profound from something that could easily be passed off as trivial. Really one best examples of scientific thinking in history.
cydwest 2 years ago 6
I LOVE THIS ONE!
Pyroney 2 years ago