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From: Frank Reed (no email)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2005 - 22:21:10 EST
"Gave this considerable thought, then took the aspirin ;-)"
<snicker>
How to win bar bets with that same aspirin: ask people which US coin when
held at arm's length is the same apparent size as the Full Moon (you can throw
in "when rising" if you want to mess with people). Is it as big as a penny, a
nickel, a quarter, a dime? Many people will guess a penny. Some will guess a
dime because they smell a trick question. A few will gues a quarter because
they only pay attention to the Moon when it's an effect in a movie...
In fact, they're all too big. An average child's aspirin tablet held at
arm's length is about 30' of arc in diameter (put it on the ground and it's
roughly 12 minutes). If you prefer, Lincoln's head on a penny is about the same
30' diameter at arm's length.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
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