Question

Modern flat Earth societies are organizations that promote the misconception that the Earth is flat rather than a globe. In one of their websites, the map on the right is provided as the flat world map. While a correct scale to real length is not available, one can ask whether the represented distances make sense by comparing realistic flight times. Here we choose two destinations from Vancouver (red dot): Sydney blue dot), via AC33; and Beijing (yellow dot), via AC29. We can find these flight durations online: Date/Duration AC 33 AC 29 April 1, 2019 15:39 h 10:22 h March 31,2019 15:05h 10:03 h March 30, 2019 14:45 h 10:08 h March 29, 2019 15:13 h 10:18 h March 28, 2019 14:42 h 10:15 h (I) Complete the data sheet below, including all the yellow squares, with the information above: Vancouver-Sydney: AC 33 Vancouver-Beijing: AC 29 Sum: Sydney (ts) Beijing (tB) (2) Mean value (3) Std. error in the mean (4) Total uncertainty (5) Write the complete measurement of the duration of cach flight They must include: central value, uncertainty and unit. Make sure the proper number of significant figures are used. (6) Measure the distance between the origin and destinations, Sydney (ds) and Beijing (dg), using a ruler. (7) Obtain the ratio between times (R.-ts/ts) and the ratio between distances (Rd = ds/de). The final measurement of these ratios should include errors (propagated from the times and distances). (8) Compare the ratio between times and the ratio between distances. Are they the same? (9) Discuss the results (for example, contributions between systematic and statistical crrors in the comparison) and conclude whether the map is reasonable in terms of distances. (10) Discuss what methods that could be used to improve the conclusion based on the above discussion.

Answer 1

To find an equal ratio, you can either multiply and divide each term in the ratio by the same number. For example if we divide both terms in the ratio 3: 6 by the number 3, then we get the equal ratio 1:2.