Distance To The Moon is a presentation given by Colin Wright.
It can take the form of either a talk or a workshop,
whichever is preferred.
When given as a talk it takes between 20 minutes and
45 minutes, when given as a workshop it takes about
60 to 90 minutes.
When the astronauts went to the Moon they left behind a reflector
so we can measure the distance with incredible accuracy. Using
simple ideas, simple maths, and a whole lot of clever thinking,
we can measure how far away the Moon is from a closed room, using
nothing but a stopwatch, a pendulum, and a lot of clever thinking.
The talk culminates in the actual measurement. When given as a
workshop the equations are derived, and then the workshop attendees
themselves make the measurement. Then we can gather the data and
look at the spread of results, asking the question - where does the
variability come from? In this way we can explore many questions
that arise in real life.
This is one of the Mathematics Talks offered by Colin Wright.
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