What primary assumption did Eratosthenes make about the Sun's radiation in his geometrical calculation?
Answer
Its incoming rays struck the Earth essentially parallel to one another.
A key component of Eratosthenes' geometric derivation relied on the assumption that because the Sun is extremely far away, the lines of incoming light striking Earth were parallel.
Related Questions
What specific solar event did Eratosthenes note occurred in Syene during his measurement?What did the $7.2^\circ$ shadow angle in Alexandria represent geometrically in Eratosthenes’ calculation?What were the professional surveyors hired by Eratosthenes to measure the ground distance between cities called?Besides astronomical observations, what visual evidence did ancient scholars use to support a spherical Earth view?What crucial finding was confirmed by the French Academy of Sciences expeditions in the 1730s comparing Arctic and Equatorial latitude measurements?What modern scientific reference surface accounts for the Earth's irregular gravity field and topographical variations?What primary assumption did Eratosthenes make about the Sun's radiation in his geometrical calculation?Which modern technique measures distances by timing the round trip of laser beams bounced off satellites?Why is converting Eratosthenes' final calculated circumference (252,000 stadia) into modern kilometers subject to scholarly debate?What term describes the necessary reference system in geodesy used to tie measurements together while accounting for the planet's actual flattened shape?