How many miles is it to the horizon?

Question

whilst on a cruise ship in the carrabean all I could see was ocean, how far can the eye line see?

Answer 1

About 50mls then it slopes down

Answer 2

3.2 miles, but it depends on the height ur eye is... say ur on the roof of the liner.. u will see further... on ground level it is 3.2 miles

Answer 3

here's the simple formula:

square root of the height of your eye off the surface x 1.15 = horizon in miles.

So a six foot tall person on the beach can see: 2.81 miles.

From "the roof of the cruise ship", lets say 100 feet up :11.5 miles.

Answer 4

I think it depends how high up you are.  Interesting question though!

Answer 5

I sugest you ask the leprichans as they are already there and can see you from the end of the rainbow.

Answer 6

They say about 20  miles flat vision, then the horizon kind of follows the curveature of the earth and it seems to sink.

Answer 7

depends how tall you are so it differs for everyone. around 2-3 miles....

Answer 8

All you need to use is Pythagoras theory.

A right angled triangle has three sides.

One side (a) is the earths radius. (Centre to horizon point)

Another side (b) is viewers eye to horizon.

The hypotenuse is the earths radius (a) plus (h) height of eye.

Earths radius is 6365 Km

(a + h)^2 = a^2 + b^2

b^2 = (a + h)^2 - a^2

b^2 = a^2 + h^2 + 2ah - a^2

b^2 = h^2 + 2ah

b = Square root of (h^2 + 2ah)

So if your eye is 1.75m above sea level, this equals 0.00175Km

b = Square root of (0.00175^2 + 2(6365 x 0.00175)

b = Square root of 3.0625/10^6 + 22.2275

b = 4.72 Km

Answer 9

There's far too many variables for a definitive equation.

It depends on your stature, where you actually are in the world, and what height a.s.l. you are.

Answer 10

If you are 1.8 metres tall, standing at sea level, then it is approximately three miles. Here's a horizon calculator for you -

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm