How's it possible that 70% of Earth receives sunlight simultaneously

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of how nearly 70% of the Earth's surface can be illuminated by sunlight simultaneously on July 8th. Participants explore the implications of this claim, questioning the mathematics and assumptions behind it, and discussing the nature of sunlight visibility on a spherical Earth.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question how a sphere can be illuminated beyond 50% by a single light source, suggesting that only 80% of the land area may be illuminated.
  • Others argue that nearly 70% of Earth's surface is indeed illuminated with some degree of sunlight on July 8th, citing population statistics and various sources.
  • One participant mentions that their calculations yield a figure of 69.35% of Earth's surface receiving sunlight, prompting inquiries about the methodology used to arrive at this number.
  • Concerns are raised about the accuracy of the sources cited, with some participants asserting that the claim of 70% illumination may be misreported or misunderstood.
  • There is a discussion about the role of atmospheric effects, such as diffraction and scattering, which may allow for more than 50% of the surface to be illuminated, but not necessarily by direct sunlight.
  • Some participants express confusion about the discrepancies between their calculations and the claims made in various articles, leading to further requests for clarification and sources.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the validity of the claim that 70% of the Earth's surface is illuminated. There are competing views regarding the accuracy of calculations and the interpretation of data from different sources.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include potential misunderstandings of the definitions of illumination and the effects of atmospheric conditions on sunlight visibility. The discussion also highlights the need for careful consideration of how different areas of the Earth are measured in terms of sunlight exposure.

  • #31
yohananregal said:
I am asking people to double check my math. Would you be willing to do that?
Sure, I'm happy to check your math. Have you posted it already? Perhaps I've missed it. And it would help if you posted your math using LaTeX, if possible. There is a link below the Edit window "LaTeX Guide" to help with that. Thanks.

yohananregal said:
May I ask, what that means, to be careful?
You have been using an insulting tone in many of your posts so far. Please do not do that. Thank you.
 
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  • #32
yohananregal said:
May I ask, what that means, to be careful? I am asking people to double check my math. Would you be willing to do that?
Maybe you should show some math?
 
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  • #33
yohananregal said:
May I ask, what that means, to be careful? I am asking people to double check my math. Would you be willing to do that?
glappkaeft said:
Maybe you should show some math?
Hello, I thank you for responding. I have shown some sources in this thread and provided all of my conclusions and methods. The math seems very simple to do. Would you be interested in double checking my work?
 
  • #34
Last chance. Show your work, or this thread is done.
 
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  • #35
Bandersnatch said:
I believe you that with the twilight zones it's 70%-ish. That's not the point. The point is, w/o the twilight zones, that map shows 50% illumination. Look:
View attachment 313929
It's the same area.

You don't get twilight zones without atmosphere. You get more than 50% from the indirect light only. It's all perfectly normal.
And It’s a stretch to claim this 50% of the globe contains 99% of the population (maybe shifted just a bit east to get the whole E Coast of China you get > 95%). Out of 8 billion people, 4.5B live in Asia, 1.4B in Africa, 0.75B in Europe - so that is 6.7B or 83% and then you get most all of S American population centers save Peru but missing W coast of N America and Mexico
 
  • #36
berkeman said:
Last chance. Show your work, or this thread is done.
Hello,

Thank you for responding.

May I ask, do you mean you want photographs of my globe with hand drawn solar terminator and twilight lines, matched and verified against the Time and Date Daylight map, traced out in black sharpie marker.

And the photos of the hand written spherical geometry, resolving the difference between the lit and unlit surface areas, absent all twilight zones, amounting to 30.65% of Earth's remaining surface area?
I can provide that, if you need that, to help me verify my math. Please let me know, I am on my laptop and will have to up load the photographs, if you need them. But doing the math is pretty simple using just the time and date map too. And I would rather have someone else do the physical work to falsify my findings.

I am really not trying to be a problem, I just want someone to double check my work. I can't make sense of this. Either way, let me know, thank you, talk soon. John
BWV said:
And It’s a stretch to claim this 50% of the globe contains 99% of the population (maybe shifted just a bit east to get the whole E Coast of China you get > 95%). Out of 8 billion people, 4.5B live in Asia, 1.4B in Africa, 0.75B in Europe - so that is 6.7B or 83% and then you get most all of S American population centers save Peru but missing W coast of N America and Mexico
Hello, Thank you. I think I may have miscommunicated. It's not the percentage of people I was calculating, but the surface area of the Earth. When I took the sunlit map from Time and Date and did the math, I surpisingly found that on that time and day, annually, a total of 69.35% of Earth's total surface area to be receiving some degree of sunlight. This doesn't make sense. Are you willing and able to double check my work? Thank you so much, kind regards. john.
 
  • #37
yohananregal said:
Hello, Thank you. I think I may have miscommunicated.
Yes, you did...
yohananregal said:
It's not the percentage of people I was calculating, but the surface area of the Earth. When I took the sunlit map from Time and Date and did the math, I surpisingly found that on that time and day, annually, a total of 69.35% of Earth's total surface area to be receiving some degree of sunlight. This doesn't make sense. Are you willing and able to double check my work? Thank you so much, kind regards. john.
If you include every area that is in astronomical twilight (as sun-lit, very non-standard) then maybe you can get those numbers. AGAIN, show some numbers and definitions of what you are talking about...
 
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  • #38
yohananregal said:
May I ask, do you mean you want photographs of my globe with hand drawn solar terminator and twilight lines, matched and verified against the Time and Date Daylight map, traced out in black sharpie marker.
No, of course not. So you are saying that you arrived at that number graphically, not numerically? Okay, you should have stated that in your Original Post.

And your thread title is provacative, suggesting that a distant light source can illumiate a globe at over 50% area without any other physics involved. Instead, you are now saying that you are including twilight zones of very dim refracted illumination and using hand-drawn images to give you a number. Thread is done.
 
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