Roger's Equations Blog

Roger's Equations

This blog is all about science and technology (with occasional math thrown in for fun). The goal of this blog is to try and pass on the sense of excitement and wonder I feel when I read about these topics. I hope you enjoy the posts.
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You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

Posted March 01, 2014 4:51 PM by Bayes

Had some random thoughts today...thought I'd share:

Farthest City From Where I Live?

The Earth has an equatorial radius of 3963 miles and a polar radius of 3950 miles. So no matter where you are on Earth, the farthest thing from you is at most a short 12,450 mile trip away. At least until we start building mega tunnels.

Albany NY (Where I am) to Albany, Australia is 11,612 miles. That's the furthest city I could find from Albany using Google. I'm sure there are further ones, but I couldn't find them. How awesome would it be if the furthest city from Albany was Albany? (Hey, I said these were random thoughts).

The Universe is Really Big

The diameter of the Observable Universe is about 95 billion ly. That's about 558 sextillion miles. I'd have to fly back and forth from Albany NY to Albany WA 48 septillion times to travel the current diameter of the observable universe.

You Are Here

It's always fun to appreciate the scale of astronomical objects. Check out the link below for some astronomical perspective (couldn't post this here cause of image resolution constraints):

You Are Here

Albany, Western Australia?

That can't be the farthest city from Albany NY, right? If anyone knows of one further, please post in the comments below.

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Tornado
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#1

Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/01/2014 5:56 PM

Extend the radius to 12,450 miles, and swing an arc NNW from Albany, Australia. It looks as though you might hit something in India or so. A globe and a piece of string might help, but right here I have only the latter.

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#2
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/01/2014 7:39 PM

Actually, that won't quite work; you'll just get a small circle around the antipode of Albany, NY, USA.
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/02/2014 8:12 AM

I just reversed the lat and long and found the point (in the Indian Ocean) opposite Albany, NY. It looks like that corner of Australia is closest to that point.

Albany: Coordinates 42.6525° N, 73.7572° WAntipode: Coordinates 42.6526° S, 106.2428° E
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Bayes
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/02/2014 10:50 AM

Looks like you're right. I also found this map that helps to visualize what you're suggesting.
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Bayes
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/02/2014 11:07 AM

*Correction* - I wrote in my post:

"I'd have to fly back and forth from Albany NY to Albany WA 48 septillion times to travel the current diameter of the observable universe."

I meant quintillion, not septillion.

Large numbers and their definitions can be found here

Either way, it's a lot of flights.
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/03/2014 3:07 PM

What are you going to do with all the frequent flyer miles?

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#7

Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/05/2014 3:13 PM

Roger: I have been to Albany, West Australia. Back in 1972 I did a 17,391 mile drive around Australia. We stayed in Albany and the picture here is a beach near that town. Albany and nearby Esperance are very remote towns with fabulous unspoilt beaches. As you can see the beach here is not exactly crowded.

To get there we had to cross the forbidding Nullabor Plain - here is our much maligned Holden EH Station Wagon with burst tire and 115 deg.F temperatures. No A/C, vinyl seats, leaking petrol cans and no radio reception, no cassette player. A bit of an ordeal for a 400 mile trip! At least you can see where you are headed for the next 50 miles.
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Bayes
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/05/2014 4:25 PM

That's awesome. The pictures look great. I wonder if the beaches are still that pristine. A 17,391 mile drive sounds like a lot of work, but I get it. It sounds like a great way to spend a summer. If you'd average 200 miles a day you could get it done in just under 3 months.

I looked up the Nullarbor Plain, yikes. Vinyl seats must have been murder for that stretch, lol. I'm guessing that day you didn't stop after 200 miles (except for the occasional mercy stops for your car).
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energyconversion
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/05/2014 5:25 PM

It took us 16 weeks as I remember, but we stayed for 2 weeks in some locations. I doubt that the beaches look quite like that now, but it's still pretty remote. The Nullabor was so hot we had to close the car windows, otherwise the hot dry air cracked your lips and skin. The South Australia stretch was all dirt road, as in the picture. One of the features of the "N1" road is that both sides are littered with bottles and cans going back multi-decades. One thing you can be sure of - nobody will ever pick them up! It's a sad refection on mankind. But of greater interest is getting out of the car and seeing seashells scattered all over the surface - from 100,000's of years ago when it was under water. I hope the bottles and cans don't last that long!
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/21/2014 12:00 AM

Roger---Went to your website, and could not find links to all of the blogs and articles you have listed here, on CR4--What am I not getting? I want to forward the "Index" of your material to others.. How so? Thanks, Macc
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Bayes
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Re: You Are Here (And Other Random Thoughts) by Roger Pink

03/21/2014 3:51 PM

Hi C-Mac,

Try this link:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blog/browse/6/Roger-s-Equations

It has a list of all my blogs. Hope that helps.

Best Regards,

Roger
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