Eratosthenes lesson plan for 7th 12th grade lesson planet. The experiment is suitable as a high school or university project and. Eratosthenes, a greek geographer about 276 to 194 b. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as. Cyrene, then a greek city, is now the town of shahhat in libya. Full text of the measure of eratosthenes carl sagan. Eratosthenes experiment 205 bc gave the first estimation of the earths radius simply by observing the shadow of a vertical stick at noon local solar. And in this video, were going to see how he did this.
As eratosthenes had the mood to experiment, to wonder if here, near alexandria, a stick makes a shadow on the noon of june 21. Then an idea came to eratosthenes, he thought of using a. His estimate of the circumference was remarkably accurateto within 2% of the real value. Apr 11, 20 for the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration.
Eratosthenes was a prominent greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer who lived between 276 bc and 194 bc. Thousands of times after that, under the most impressive. The multiples of a given prime are generated as a sequence of numbers starting from that prime, with constant difference between them that is. Eratosthenes measurement of the circumference of the earth. Eratosthenes made the first accurate measurement of the size of the earth. He was also the director of the library of alexandria. Feb 14, 2020 eratosthenes, greek scientific writer, astronomer, and poet, who made the first measurement of the size of earth for which any details are known. Eratosthenes calculation was a little out, but the accuracy of his figure for the circumference of the earth would not be equalled until modern times. Eratosthenes found a way, using none of the modern tools that we have, to measure the circumference of the earth.
Register now and participate to the eratosthenes experiment. He does this with a little bit of geometry, and the knowledge that, due to the curvature of the earth, if the sun is seen as directly overhead at one place at a particular time, the sun could not be directly overhead at a different place at the same time, as follows. Eratosthenes most famous accomplishment is his measurement of the circumference of earth. In 195 bc he became blind and a year later he starved himself to death. This algorithm is known in mathematics as the sieve of eratosthenes in mathematics, the sieve of eratosthenes greek. The legend follows that eratosthenes used a deep vertical well near syene, in southern egypt which was entirely lit up by the sun at noon once a year as the basis of his calculations.
It makes no difference at all whether eratosthenes got his experiment right or not, or whether he could have done a better job, or whether he was an alcoholic or not. Amazing experiment shows spherical version of tesseract duration. A wonderful project for students, which would necessarily involve team work with a different school and most likely a school in a different state or region of the country, would be to try to repeat eratosthenes experiment. In this earth lesson students complete a hands on activity to repeat eratosthenes experiment. He was born in what is now libya, to parents who were probably chaldean. The legend follows that eratosthenes used a deep vertical well near syene, in southern egypt which was entirely lit up by the sun at. The sieve of eratosthenes identifies all prime numbers up to a given number n as follows. This exercise involves using eratostheness algorithm in a list of prime numbers class, and then using an instance of that class to conduct an experiment concerning the number of. We use your linkedin profile and activity data to personalize ads and to show you more relevant ads. To estimate the earths circumference, eratosthenes calculated the length of a meridian arc by measuring the shadow cast by a vertical axis at noon on the summer solstice.
Eratosthenes experiment 205 bc gave the first estimation of the earths radius simply by observing the shadow of a vertical stick at noon local solar time. Eratosthenes proposed a simple algorithm for finding prime numbers. Sieve of eratosthenes allows us to generate a list of primes. Comments if you have completed and enjoyed this activity and are looking for another, similar challenge you wont be disappointed with pascals triangle.
Eratosthenes, greek scientific writer, astronomer, and poet, who made the first measurement of the size of earth for which any details are known. We arent quite sure what answer eratosthenes came up with, though. In order to repeat eratosthenes experiment youll have to do the same. He used that distance, what he knew about the suns angles, and a bit of geometry to figure out the size of the earth. He was also reputedly known for his haughty character. Eratosthenes studied in alexandria, and claimed to have also studied for some years in athens. Eratosthenes was the first person to use the word geography and other geographical terms that are still in use today, and his efforts to calculate the circumference of the earth and the distance from the earth to the sun paved the way for our. So the heart of eratostheness measurement is a simple geometry problem. Eratosthenes definition, greek mathematician and astronomer at alexandria.
Chief among these is the calculation of the circumference of the earth and the development of a mathematical sieve named after him. Eratosthenes, over 2,000 years ago has estimated earths. How eratosthenes calculated the earths circumference youtube. The projects in this section use a technique known as algorithm animation to help vi. Eratosthenes biography childhood, life achievements. In show math, students will learn how in 200 bc, the greek mathematician eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth using simple geometry and a few measurements. Modern replication of eratosthenes measurement of the circumference of earth. Eratosthenes was a famous greek philosopher, mathematician and geographer who is credited for the measurement of earths circumference. It is named after ancient greek astronomer eratosthenes of cyrene, who estimated the circumference of the earth, and the distance from the earth to the sun. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those. Pictured below is the suns rays hitting two different. Then an idea came to eratosthenes, he thought of using a gnomon, a vertical verge.
Eratosthenes of cyrene 276 194 bc was a 3rd century bc greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer. A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that can be divided without remainder only by itself and by 1. The eratosthenes experiment is organized under the support of the international astronomical union iau and the european project spaceeu. Eratosthenes used the local noon and no other time of the day since at local noon all relevant places and sunrays are placed on the same imaginary plane enabling the use of simple geometry for his calculations.
Whether through dumb luck, or an inconsistency or his great intelligence, eratosthenes did an experiment and got a result. Eratosthenes was an ancient greek scientist born in the town of cyrene in about 276 bc. An alternative method using the interactive mapmaker can be found here. The accuracy and simplicity of this experiment are amazing. Natural numbers n that can be divided by a number less than n and greater than 1 are composite numbers. Eratosthenes was a friend of archimedes, who also lived and worked in alexandria. This way you can also have an accurate outcome by conducting the experiment by. In cyrene northern tropic, no shadow is cast whereas 800. This month in physics history aps physics aps home. A partly complete sieve of eratosthenes on a 14column number grid. Jan 14, 2009 eratosthenes alexandrian mathematician. The eratosthenes experiment hoax flat earth education. Eratosthenes calculation of earths circumference windows.
Eratosthenes was called beta the second letter of the greek alphabet because he was never first, but he is more famous than his alpha teachers because his discoveries are still used today. This eratosthenes lesson plan is suitable for 7th 12th grade. Experimental animation calarts school of filmvideo. Not much, but enough to put this note at the beginning. Eratosthenes was fascinated with geography and planned to make a map of the entire world. He was head of the library of alexandria from 240 bc until his death. Jul 23, 2017 the eratosthenes experiment hoax july 23, 2017 july 26, 2017 by flateartheducation, posted in flat earth and science, introduction to flat earth this article contains mature language. The ancient greek scientist eratosthenes devised the following experiment for estimating the circumference of the earth, which he assumed to be spherical in shape. Archimedes was the greatest mathematician and inventor of the age, so perhaps the beta nickname was not unjust. Jan 11, 2011 excerpt from the ibm film mathematics peepshow.
Eratosthenes of cyrene 276 bc194 bc was a third century bc greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer. I have very little knowledge about eratosthenes but its not needed in this case. Values between 500 and about 600 feet have been suggested, putting eratosthenes calculated circumference between about 24,000 miles and about 29,000 miles. So consider the circle shown here, which has points a and b. Full text of the measure of eratosthenes carl sagan see other formats chapter 15 process analysis 517 the measure of eratosthenes j carl sagan a professor of astronomy at cornell university, carl sagan has worked on a num ber of nasa projects and has completed extensive research on the possibility of life on other planets.
Eratosthenes crater is a relatively deep lunar impact crater that lies on the boundary between the mare imbrium and sinus aestuum mare regions. So on the same day, different year, he noticed that in alexandria, some 800 kilometers km away, a vertical pole cast a shadow. March 2018 on february 23, 2018 in announcements, news this year the experiment will take place on wednesday the 21st of march, one day after the spring equinox day tuesday, 20 march 2018, 16. More than 2000 years ago, the greek mathematician eratosthenes described a simple algorithm for finding prime numbers.
Stellarium software a short guide for using thestellarium software to calculate your local. Eratosthenes is famous for many things, including a mapping method that used latitudes and longitudes, and his accurate computation of the circumference of earth. There is essentially a research paper written by someone called eratosthenes where he gives an outline of his experiment, the results he recorded made up or otherwise and what that meant. He recorded the details of this measurement in a manuscript that is now lost, but his technique has been described by other greek historians and writers. Eratosthenes, who lived in alexandria, heard of this from a traveler. In 236 bc he was appointed by ptolemy iii euergetes i as librarian of the alexandrian library, succeeding the second librarian, apollonius of rhodes, in that post. Eratosthenes therefore calculated the total circumference of the earth to be 40,000 kilometres 250,000 stadia.
In mathematics, the sieve of eratosthenes is an ancient algorithm for finding all prime numbers up to any given limit it does so by iteratively marking as composite i. His only surviving work is catasterisms, a book about constellations. Eratosthenes created a whole section devoted to the examination of homer, and acquired original works of great tragic dramas of aeschylus, sophocles and euripides. This file contains additional information such as exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. Introduce students to the activity by telling them about eratosthenes, his measurement, and the equinox. Pdf using a video camera to measure the radius of the earth. Steps to follow the experiment will take place on the 20th of march. Modern scholars disagree about the length of the stadium used by eratosthenes. Eratosthenes was educated in philosophy and mathematics in athens. Carl sagan explains how the ancient greeks, using reason and. In the cosmos clip above, sagan explains eratosthenes scientific method. For the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. He went on to calculate the circumference of the earth by the following simple reasoning.
By noting the angles of shadows in two cities on the summer solstice, and by performing the right calculations using his knowledge of geometry and the distance between the cities, eratosthenes was able to make a remarkably accurate calculation of the circumference of earth. Explain that the class will perform an experiment on a date close or on the equinox to measure the earths circumference based on eratosthenes model. A worldwide experiment based on eratosthenes original computation of the earths circumference. He made several important contributions to mathematics and science, and was a good friend to archimedes. My friend gene gordon, a high school physics teacher in upstate new york, got me excited about the simplicity of eratosthenes original experiment. To estimate the earths circumference, eratosthenes calculated the length of a. The program enjoys a longstanding international reputation for excellence in innovative animation production. Eratosthenes made several important contributions to mathematics and science, and was a friend of archimedes. Maps, lists, resources, and links pertaining to ancient greek mathematics. It forms the western terminus of the montes apenninus mountain range. The distance between alexandria and syene was measured in stadia.
He knew that assouan lay due south of alexandria at a distance of 580 statute miles. From the results of the experiment, eratosthenes deduced that the towns could not be on a flat surface and that they must, instead be on the surface of a sphere. Eratosthenes, however, was a scientist, and his contemplation of these common things would change the world. In syene northern tropic, no shadow is cast whereas 800 kilometres further north, in alexandria, the shadow is cast at an angle of 7. Interactive animation of the sieve of eratosthenes to obtain prime numbers, using javascript. Levels two to five involve colouring the cells of a large pascals triangle following a number rule to produce an. Eratosthenes proved the earth isnt flat astro navigation. Eratosthenes had someone measure the distance between alexandria and syene. By using the difference in the elevation of the noontime sun at two different locations, he was able to measure the angular difference. Read on to know more about his childhood, career, profile and timeline. Eratosthenes then used this to calculate the circumference of the earth to be about 250,000 stadia. Thus, for your matchup if no other schools can be found on the same longitude you can consider the existence of a virtual school on the equator with experimental data 0 shade of a onemeter stick measured at a certain time.
Its faculty, students and alumni have consistently. A free program called imagej was used to measure the time it took the. The eratosthenes experiment march 2020 is organised with the collaboration of the hellenic mathematical society. Eratosthenes measurement of the earths circumference. The works eratosthenes wrote are known to us only indirectly. Eratosthenes sieve javascript required click on any number and all its proper multiples will be removed from the table. Remove all proper multiples of the next remaining number. Jan 14, 2020 eratosthenes was called beta the second letter of the greek alphabet because he was never first, but he is more famous than his alpha teachers because his discoveries are still used today.
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