so while driving to glacier (don't worry... i'll post you some scenery later... i'm tired... this one's going to be quick...) the sun was blaring at me from the west as it was setting, and i was heading north. i thought to myself, "self, if i was travelling west into the sunset, how fast would i have to drive in order for the sun to never set?" so i thought of the 2 smartest people i knew, my dad and my brother, and i called them. dad didn't answer, so i left a desparate message saying "dad, call me back! i have to ask you something VERY important!" i called chelsea's phone hoping to get ahold of clark, and explained to her why i needed to get ahold of clark... she immediately gave me his new work cell phone, told me to call him at work, then call her back when i had the answer. it took clark 12 minutes to solve my random thought. he figured the sin and cosin of the inverse trajectory of the rate of speed verses the speed of sound at sea level minus the ratio to the n'th degree of pi... or something like that... plus he just happened to know off-hand the circumference of the earth at the equator (clark, you're a nerd), so he did some math and rattled off 1084 mph at the equator in order for the sun to never set... BUT at salt lake city's latitude, you'd only after to travel 768 mph... just slightly past the speed of sound at sea level... but this speed is only valid when the sun is directly perpendicular to the point of origin which only happens on march 21 and sept 21... thank you clark for solving my random thought!
dad called me back and estimated approximately 800 mph in less than 3 minutes...
so, clark wins for being the closest without going over
but, dad wins for being the quicker, less accurate solver...
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5 comments:
can i just tell you how much i love your family! this literally brought tears to my eyes laughing. it's so nice to know someone else has a joyfully mathematically inclined family out there. i sure hope you celebrated pi day!! i loved this. brit :o)
By the way, it is sine and cosine, just FYI... but that is absolutely all I can add to the mathematical equation. I am the nerd speller! This made me laugh.. deep thoughts from Sarah, numbers wizardry from Dad and Clark, and fanaticism in problem solving from Clark. I love our family! One question, supposing you COULD drive so fast so as to avoid having the sun set on you... does that mean you never get a day older? You never age?!
HOLY CRAP! SARAH HARSHBARGER??? I can't believe I found you on here! I've been wondering what you've been up to!!! Anyways, hope you still remember me. . . I was glad to find your blog and do a little reading of your adventures. Hope you don't mind if I post your link on mine so I can catch up with you every once in a while! SEe ya!
Tonya (Whittier) Robertson :)
haha! This post is great. That is a really cool question, and I especially like you refer to yourself as "self". I will do that more often. :) That's crazy that Clark just happened to know the circumference of the earth off the top of his head!
Jeep was laughing so loud as I read him this post. How hilarious. Anyway, we hope you're well and that you'll check out our blog when you get the chance.
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