How Does The Horizon Work?

When you stand at the water's edge and look out toward the horizon, how far away can you actually see? Check out this episode of BrainStuff to learn more about the horizon and the curvature of Earth.

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on the HowStuffWorks team to explore - and explain - the everyday science in the world around us on BrainStuff.

[DANGJOS]

Let me save you some time. The majority of the comments is either people complaining about the lack of metric units, or claiming the Earth is flat. Needless to say, people didn't like the video lol

[LondonWalkability]

8 inches? Is that like 20 degrees celcius?

[FingerLiquid]

nice :o But next time, write things in meters too :) So everyone can understand

[eddyfast]

The true horizon is the clouds beyond the water you can see. It's about height. If clouds rose from the ground up they would be used to mark the horizon without question. Imagine a mountain as high as the clouds.
To clarify. If mount Everest was in sight, you wouldn't say the clouds below it were the horizon.

[RitaKay]

Trying to understand why I can clearly see objects more that 3 miles away. Help!!!!

[SushannahR]

Although I DO like your new program, "Brain Stuff, " I MISS the old one, "Things They Don't Want You to Know." Are you still making those shows?

[Orsbore]

Why is that mindblowing? I'm sure you wouldn't think that if you weren't stoned.

[TheKingArabia]

so how far is the horizon if you are standing at Beacon on the beach?

[heathen]

Had to look this up because something I saw on telly said the horizon over the ocean was 7 miles in every direction from sea level.

[macxgeek]

3 miles seems too low, I've always read that when standing at sea level, you can see approx 13 miles to the horizon. I know that I've been able to see the edges of land marks (islands, etc) that are further away than 3 miles when referenced on a map.

[skepticbb]

How far is the horizon if I am standing on the horizon?

[TheSentientCloud]

If you're unhappy with the system, convert it yourself. It's really not that hard...

[Tupster]

*The Metric System* _Helping nerds feel superior since 1799_

[murt]

so... whats the equation to calculating the distance???

[Nipponshin]

haha this guy is awesome! Is he like that all the time?

[dothedouglas]

I have a question. If you can only see 3 miles, how come you can see the Straight of Gibraltar, or how come you can across the Mackinac bridge. Those are well over 3 miles. I am confused.

[MrRobinhalligan]

Why is it that for a supposed Science based program you have not discovered the metric system?.

[GabrieleCannata]

Sorry, I cannot like videos in imperial units.

[henrikohm]

you could be a little more detailed please. what about atm light bending ?

[rodrigosalas]

First: You cannot calculate the horizon using spherical trigonometry, earth is an oblate spheroid, hence the radius cannot be used in most equations because is not constant. Second: the effect of atmospheric refraction alters the light path, varying the results with an error of approximate 8 percent, thats why in some aplicable equations, 3.57 is the constant factor used to calculate the horizon distance; colder atmosphere curves light downward, hence you can see a bit farther down earths curvature. The opposite with warmer atmospheres. Atmospheric temperature and other physical variables can really alter lights path. Love your channel, keep them coming. Flat earthers please, do not use this argument for your hypothesis, I'm open to discussion and I respect any opinion, yet I believe the world has more issues than focusing on some nonsense BS.