this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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How Smooth Is The Earth, Really? Explore Elevation With An Interactive 3D Globe (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 3 months ago by Blaze@sopuli.xyz to c/map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz
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https://perthirtysix.com/tool/earth-smoothness

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[–] Contentedness 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I learned that the oxygen around the earth is about as thick as a coat of paint on a pool ball, relatively.

I'm not sure how accurate that is.

[–] Hagdos@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Space is about 100 km up, on a sphere that has a radius of 6000 km, so some 2% is air.

A pool ball has a radius of 30 mm roughly, so 2% of that is 0.6mm. Seems like a very thin coat of paint to me, but roughly correct.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

A coat of paint is like 0.045mm thick

[–] Hagdos@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Not on the walls I've painted. I don't know about pool balls, but I'd imagine they need a solid layer of paint too, otherwise they'd flake in no time with the abuse they get.

[–] yuri@pawb.social 5 points 3 months ago

I was once told that if you scaled the earth and a glass marble to be the same size, the earth would have a much smoother surface.