Timing the sunset to calculate where space begins | Summary and Q&A

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January 24, 2024
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Simon Clark
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Timing the sunset to calculate where space begins

TL;DR

Ancient philosopher Aristotle divided the universe into different spheres, such as air and fire, and believed in a definite boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. However, modern science has shown that there is no definitive edge to space.

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Key Insights

  • ðŸĪŠ Ancient thinkers, like Aristotle, had an understanding that the air becomes thinner and colder as one goes higher up, leading them to believe in a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
  • 😇 Iban Muad al-Jani, a scholar from Spain, made contributions to the estimation of the height of the atmosphere using simple geometry and observational data.
  • ðŸ‘ū The modern understanding of the atmosphere and space is more complex and involves concepts like atmospheric refraction and the absence of a definitive edge to space.
  • ðŸ‘ū Ancient and non-Western contributions to the understanding of space and the atmosphere highlight the diverse origins of scientific knowledge.
  • ðŸ‘ū Space exploration and the fascination with space go beyond modern times, as ancient people recognized the uniqueness of the celestial realm.
  • 🊘 The study of astronomy and meteorology can be traced back to ancient thinkers, demonstrating the long history and importance of atmospheric science.
  • ðŸ‘ū The Carmen line, located approximately 100 km above Earth, is often used as a boundary for space, although there is no definitive edge to space.

Transcript

thanks to nebula for sponsoring this video space is a modern Fascination these days you're barely even a billionaire if you don't send phallic objects hurtling into the final frontier but space is not a modern invention ancient people knew that up there is fundamentally different to down here anyone who lived near a mountain could have told you tha... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: How did ancient thinkers like Aristotle divide the universe?

Aristotle divided the universe into different spheres, including the sphere of air and the sphere of fire, to explain the phenomena happening above Earth's surface.

Q: What is the most commonly accepted boundary for space?

The Carmen line, located approximately 100 km above the Earth's surface, is often regarded as the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

Q: Who was Iban Muad al-Jani and what contributions did he make to the understanding of space?

Iban Muad al-Jani, a scholar and judge from Andalusia, Spain, proposed an experiment to estimate the height of the atmosphere using simple geometry and observational data. His writings on mathematics and spherical geometry were influential in both Western and Arab worlds.

Q: What are some limitations of estimating the height of the atmosphere using observation and geometry alone?

This method does not account for atmospheric refraction, something that was added to calculations years later. Factors like the latitude of the observer also affect the accuracy of the calculations.

Summary & Key Takeaways

  • Ancient people, like Aristotle, recognized that the air gets thinner and colder as one goes higher up, leading them to believe in a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

  • The most common modern boundary for space is the Carmen line, which is approximately 100 km above Earth's surface.

  • Contributions to the understanding of space and the atmosphere were made by scholars like Iban Muad al-Jani, who proposed a method to estimate the height of the atmosphere using simple geometry and observational data.

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