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More distracting math
Feb. 7th, 2010 08:06 pmYou know how, in Western movies, the hero always rides off into the sunset?
Well, given that the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, and that it's circumference at the equator is 40,075.02 km, then the hero would have to ride off at over 1669.79 km/hr or 1037.56 miles per hour in order to actually make it.
Of course, that's only the case if the story took pace on the equator, and very few Western stories seem to take place in Equador, Columbia or Brazil, so we have to adjust slightly. Phoenix, AZ is located at 33.43 degrees N Latitude. So, at that point, the speed of the Earth is 865.91 miles per hour... which is still beyond the speed of the average horse.
Even if we assume that the hero was riding Secretariat, who finished the Belmont Stakes in 2 minutes and 24 seconds. This is a 1.5 mile race, so that means that Secretariat's top speed was 37.5 mph. This pretty much means that the story has to take place somewhere North (or South) of 87.95 degrees... which would be somewhat North of Greenland or smack dab in the middle of Antarctica.
Which would be a somewhat interesting Western, really.
Well, given that the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, and that it's circumference at the equator is 40,075.02 km, then the hero would have to ride off at over 1669.79 km/hr or 1037.56 miles per hour in order to actually make it.
Of course, that's only the case if the story took pace on the equator, and very few Western stories seem to take place in Equador, Columbia or Brazil, so we have to adjust slightly. Phoenix, AZ is located at 33.43 degrees N Latitude. So, at that point, the speed of the Earth is 865.91 miles per hour... which is still beyond the speed of the average horse.
Even if we assume that the hero was riding Secretariat, who finished the Belmont Stakes in 2 minutes and 24 seconds. This is a 1.5 mile race, so that means that Secretariat's top speed was 37.5 mph. This pretty much means that the story has to take place somewhere North (or South) of 87.95 degrees... which would be somewhat North of Greenland or smack dab in the middle of Antarctica.
Which would be a somewhat interesting Western, really.
