QUESTION:
If I told you to take a hike and get as far away from me as possible, how many miles away would that be? In other words, assuming the Earth is a perfect sphere, what’s the farthest distance you can travel on the face of the Earth before you’d be headed back towards your starting point?
ANSWER:
12,450 Miles
EXPLANATION:
The farthest distance you can travel on Earth is to the exact opposite side from where you started. Contrary to popular belief, if you were to dig a hole down through the center on the Earth and come out on the opposite side, you would not end up in China, but you’d be in the middle of the Indian Ocean, about 2400 miles east of the southern tip of South Africa.
The exact coordinates would be 34°03′ S 61°46′ E (which the opposite of downtown Los Angeles 34°03′ N 118° 14′ W). The “A” marker shows that point on the map below.
The circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles at the Equator. We’ll assume the Earth is a round sphere for the purposes of our Trivia Question. The farthest distance you can travel is half the circumference, which is (about) 12, 450 miles.
NET CHECK IN’s:
We had a total of 23 people check into the Net tonight and 2of those had the correct answer to the Trivia Question tonight. Congratulations to:
- AF6TT — Leon
- KB2ZIS — Tom
And, as always, thanks to everyone for supporting us by checking in to the Net.
