PureInsight | July 9, 2001
In Chapter 3 Rene's discusses the scientific anomaly known as the equatorial bulge. He states that ' Newton, by using an imaginary water filled tunnel drilled from the pole to the earth's center and thence to the equator, 'proved' that the centrifugal force of the earth's rotation gave us a radial bulge of 17.1 miles (17). Contemporary scientific sources state that the bulge at the equator is 13.51 miles.
Figure 1 (page 13) helps to illustrate a very ingenious test devised by Rene?to determine the validity of the equatorial bulge. Using a bulge of 22 kilometers (approx. 13.2 miles) at the equator he calculates the slope of the angle .097 degrees which gives a difference in elevation of approximately 2 inches per 100 feet, going from either of the poles towards the equator. Using these numbers he shows that a surveyor's transit should show a change in the elevation of a body of water amounting to 2 inches in 100 feet. Actually, if you think about it, this would also have to be the case for dry land also. So, where does the bulge begin to show up on the earth'surface?
