When I was watching the flight path and wondering why we always go way too much up or down instead of going straight , I learnt that I was wrong and we were indeed going on the shortest route. Since earth is like a sphere you can not have a line segment as a possible metric to measure distance, only an arc of sphere can be possible.
This is the great circle route it’s the shortest distance between any two points on a sphere so you know it’s not a straight line.
Basically we all know we travel along the surface of sphere and we should think in 3D lol!
And did you notice that all inter and intra cities navigation maps are in 2D? I’m thinking it’s because we are considering a shorter distance when compared to flight paths that their limits exist in the same plane and so they can be in 2D . I’m yet to double check this with my math teacher! Can you think of anything else that describes this ?
One thought on “96: Great Circle”
Great post again. Also look up the Mercator projection – it could be your next post. Or you can write about projections in general. Think of your shadow on a wall.
Most engineering drawings are such projections. You can also think about how you would depict a 3D space on paper – a map of your house for example.