Turbulent ship wakes: further evidence that the Earth is round.
When viewed from the stern, a ship's turbulent wake appears as a narrow strip of bubble-whitened water converging toward the horizon. The wake does not reach a sharp point on the horizon but has a finite angular width, indicating that the Earth is not flat, but rather round. A simple analysis of the geometry of the observations shows that the radius of the Earth can be estimated using only simple instruments and observations.
Lynch
David K
DK
Thule Scientific, 22914 Portage Circle Drive, Topanga, California 90290, USA. david.k.lynch@aero.org