The takeaway is that the extra length of the arc is likely much smaller than one would intuitively expect. The problem is usually framed like so: If you wrapped a rope around the earth, how much more rope would you need to add so that it would be 1 meter above the ground at all points? The answer is only 2π meters!
The takeaway is that the extra length of the arc is likely much smaller than one would intuitively expect. The problem is usually framed like so: If you wrapped a rope around the earth, how much more rope would you need to add so that it would be 1 meter above the ground at all points? The answer is only 2π meters!