Since I'm not really all that great with math I have a request of those of you that are.
In this issue of Parade®, a little insert that is often found in the Sunday edition of American newspapers, there is a section called "Ask Myrilyn" wherein a the following is published;
Zan White, Elkins, WV writes:
Say I place a 25,0000-mile-long metal band snugly around the earth. (Assume a smooth planet.) The I cut the band and splice another 50 feet into it, thus loosening it all around. Can I get my finger between the new-length band and the earth? Can I crawl under it?
Marylin vos Savant replies;
Amazingly, even the tallest basketball player could walk under the band, which would float about eight feet off the ground around the planet.
The circumference of the object is irrelevant. Adding 50 feet to any sized band-one that wraps around a cantaloupe or the moon-will produce the same answer: The longer band will be about eight feet from the object it circles.
If this is so, which I find hard to accept, could one of you please educate me as to the formula used to calculate this?
Thanks,
RS