Hi Brent-- The paradox involves what you mean by "travel due east'.
If you travel due east, and keep on traveling due east at every point of your journey, then you will indeed follow a parallel of latitude. If you were to drive your car in that fashion, always going due east, along a parallel of latitude, then your car's wheels and steering-wheel would have to be adjusted for a (slight) left-turn. ...as, for example, if you wanted to drive east along the U.S-Canadian border. But there's another thing that you could mean by traveling due east: But, if you set out due east, and then travel in a straight line, without letting your car's wheels curve your car left or right at all, then you're not following a parallel, and, you'd indeed end up going farther and farther south from your original latitude. As others have pointed out, a straight line on the Earth is also called a "great circle". So, the paradox was just the result of two different meanings of "travel due-east". Michael Ossipoff On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 10:10 AM, Brent <bren...@verizon.net> wrote: > I'm confused maybe. > > I live in the northern hemishpere and anticipating the equinox on the 23rd. > > Supposedly the sun will rise due east. > > So if due east is a right angle from north south and I traveled due east I > would not follow my line of latitude. > I would get further and further south of my latitude the further I > traveled. > > So either the lines of latitude are not east west lines or due east is not > a straight line but curved. > I suspect lines of latitude are not east west lines? > They would work fine if the earth was not tilted, but it is. > > Wouldn't it make sense to coordinate the globe so lines of latitude (or > call them something else) are straight and a right angle > from north south? > > brent > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > > >
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