Snellius–Pothenot problem
Okay kiddo, have you ever played with a ball and tried to throw it to someone who was not in a straight line from you? You might have noticed that the ball seems to curve when you throw it. This happens because of something called refraction.
When light, or in our example the ball, passes from one material to another (like air to water or air to glass), it changes direction. This is because different materials have different densities, or how tightly packed their tiny particles are. When light passes through a denser material, like water or glass, it slows down and bends towards what we call the normal line, an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface of the material.
So here's where Snellius-Pothenot comes in. It's a problem, or a puzzle, that asks you to figure out the shape of the Earth using the angle of refraction of light passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists use this problem to study how light travels through different parts of our atmosphere, which can help us understand how to communicate with satellites and spacecraft. It's pretty cool, right?
When light, or in our example the ball, passes from one material to another (like air to water or air to glass), it changes direction. This is because different materials have different densities, or how tightly packed their tiny particles are. When light passes through a denser material, like water or glass, it slows down and bends towards what we call the normal line, an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface of the material.
So here's where Snellius-Pothenot comes in. It's a problem, or a puzzle, that asks you to figure out the shape of the Earth using the angle of refraction of light passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists use this problem to study how light travels through different parts of our atmosphere, which can help us understand how to communicate with satellites and spacecraft. It's pretty cool, right?