Seeing Lynn's silence in response to Harof's question, he could only use the excuse that he didn't know.
The initially lifeless diviners from the Divination School suddenly became lively again. Yulande seemed to have found a breakthrough and questioned.
"Mr. Lynn, if I'm not mistaken, you're not a grand wizard yet, so you can't use force field magic, right?"
Yulande's question was lethal, and it immediately raised a significant issue for many wizards who supported Lynn. Since he wasn't a grand wizard and couldn't even use force field magic, how did he discover this gravitational formula?
"The Universal Gravitational Formula is based on the three celestial laws proposed by the legendary wizard Kepler, and I calculated it using arcane mathematics," Lynn replied calmly and reiterated the three laws.
Last night, he confirmed that the Universal Gravitational Law still applies in this parallel world using this method. So when facing Yulande's questioning, he remained composed.
"Calculated? How did you calculate it?" Another diviner from the Divination School immediately spoke up. "According to your statement, to calculate the Universal Gravitational Force, we need to know the so-called gravitational constant, the distance between two celestial bodies, and their masses."
"A celestial body is incredibly massive, larger than the biggest mountain in the Wizard's Land by millions of times. The distance between them is unimaginably vast. How can we measure that? Are we going to use a ruler, or maybe weigh the continent under our feet?"
"If that's the case, what should we put on the other end of the scale? Another celestial body?" The diviner laughed.
Inside the discussion hall, over a thousand wizards engaged in heated debates. Lynn's presentation of the celestial movements had been too perfect, and many still wanted to believe in the gravitational formula he proposed.
But no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't figure out how to determine the weight and distance of these celestial bodies.
Raphael looked at Lynn and sighed. He suspected that this Universal Gravitational Formula might be nothing more than an unverified theoretical concept.
Originally, this wouldn't have been a problem because there were plenty of unverified theoretical concepts. However, it had caught the attention of Lord Harof and had even reached the point where he was considering awarding the Sun Crown Medal. If this theory turned out to be incorrect, Lynn's reputation would suffer a heavy blow.
Yulande and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They had every reason to believe that Lynn's so-called Universal Gravitational Formula was nothing but a fabrication!
Lynn looked at them with a compassionate expression, as if he were looking at fools.
"Don't think of this process as too difficult, ladies and gentlemen. With some basic mathematical knowledge, even my apprentices could calculate the mass of a celestial body and the distance between them."
Lynn spoke calmly, but in the eyes of the diviners from the Divination School, it seemed like he was just blowing hot air. If he claimed he could do it himself, they might believe him to some extent. But if he said that even a wizard apprentice could calculate the data of celestial bodies, it was simply outrageous.
The gaze of over a thousand wizards immediately turned to Jenny, Lydia, Elok, and Pierce...
I can't do it! I can't! I can't calculate it!
Elok was on the verge of tears. He had long realized that Professor Lynn might have been holding some unrealistic fantasies about their abilities.
They really weren't that extraordinary!
Those celestial bodies were so massive, and their distances were so vast. How could they possibly calculate them?
Lynn, seemingly oblivious to the resentful glares of Elok and the others, continued, "Don't make this process seem too difficult, ladies and gentlemen. You only need to find a reference point in the vast universe. The best reference point is our planet beneath our feet. If you know its data, everything becomes easier!"
Yulande sneered and eagerly awaited to see how Lynn would calculate the various data of this continent.
Lynn looked at Elok and the others, then suddenly asked, "If I want to know the circumference of a circle, what method should I use?"
"You can use the diameter multiplied by pi, Professor!" Lydia shouted loudly, remembering this very clearly.
"What if you don't know the data for the diameter?" Lynn asked again.
Lydia's face immediately froze, and Elok and Pierce thought hard. Eventually, Jenny pointed to the sand table on the platform and responded.
"A circle has 360 degrees, with each degree being equal. So, I can measure the length of each degree segment to determine its circumference!"
"Well said, Jenny. Your magical mathematics has been excellent," Lynn smiled and continued, "Our planet beneath our feet is also a circle. So, as long as we use the same method, can't we calculate it?"
Once this statement was made, the wizards in the hall couldn't help but pause for a moment, as if it made sense.
"Our planet beneath our feet is incredibly massive. How can we determine the angles and distances?" Harof furrowed his brow. He had flown to altitudes of tens of thousands of meters, using magical vision to barely see a slight curve. It was impossible to artificially divide it into equal degrees like the sand table under their feet.
Lynn didn't answer directly and walked to the sand table, asking, "Have you heard that every year in mid-July, under the noon sun, the shadow of the Sun Crown Tower overlaps with the tower itself? Is that true?"
"That's correct!" Raphael nodded beside him.
"Then I believe you haven't forgotten what I mentioned when explaining the changing seasons, the zenith of the sun. In mid-July, at noon, we are right at the zenith of the sun! We'll take that as our zero-degree point!"
Lynn walked to the sand table and took a wooden stick, placing it at the point representing zero degrees. Then, he put down another wooden stick a bit farther away.
"Next, we only need to erect a tall column as far away from the Daybreak Tower as possible and measure the lengths of the column and its shadow. Can't we calculate the angle to the center of the Earth?"
Using the tall column as the reference point, with sunlight as the ruler... genius! It was a brilliant idea!
Harof was excited, as the column would be like a straight line on the circular arc, and the shadow would be the other side of a right triangle. This was a straightforward problem of calculating the angle of the top point!
Raphael and the others stared at the two wooden sticks on the sand table and couldn't help but inhale sharply. Who would have thought it could be done this way?
TL/n -
An ancient Greek astronomer named Eratosthenes was the first man to measure the size of the Earth accurately. His method was very simple: he measured the angle made by a shadow cast from a vertical stick in two different cities on the same day and time.