"The top of the Golden Gate Bridge is almost two inches wider at the top than the base because of the curvature of the Earth"
Here's the original: http://arachnoid.com/carnival/index.html#Vertical
In the linked article, we also find this graphic used to make another point -- horizon distance: http://datagenetics.com/blog/june32012/globe.png
Here's the original, from my Web site: http://arachnoid.com/carnival/resources/horizon_distance.png
Look familiar?
The basic idea is pretty obvious. People have been computing "astounding facts" attributable to the Earth's curvature for thousands of years. Golden Gate Bridge is a pretty obvious choice for computing the tangible spread of two apparently parallel towers: WTC towers were too close for a dramatic spread, and other than GGB there isn't any other pair of towers so universally known (at least to an American audience) which are identical and far enough apart for a spreading of inches. If I think about it long enough, I'll probably recall seeing the same computation & example in trigonometry class decades ago.
Just because you thought of it doesn't mean you're first - by a long shot.
Oh, and your sketch is wrong. The two lines labeled "R" aren't the same length.
lutusp's diagram is the arachnoid one. His labels are correct, it's the datagenetics one that has apparently incorrect labeling. The dashed red line is not R in length, but R + h, which is not clearly indicated though the apparent intent. The dashed line should stop at the circle and change color or something to indicate a second line segment.
That said, you're correct. Ignoring the person another similar diagram is here:
Next you are going to claim he stole your idea of a time machine. (Oh and your idea about calculus, and the English language).
- Guinness Book of World Records (1973) made it with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - http://books.google.com/books?ei=93b7U_XoBuT5yQPkqYGIBQ&hl=s...
- So did Henry Petroski in Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America: http://books.google.com/books?id=1J9qUcgoUvkC&pg=PT460&dq=cu...
- and Popular Science in December 1995 http://books.google.com/books?id=7n5BWbJWMXMC&pg=PA102&dq=%2...
It's not unique to the V-N Bridge. Here's a generic version in:
- a NASA report from 1978, Skylab EREP Investigations Summary, says "For example, the support towers on each side of a long suspension bridge are several centimeters further apart at the top than at the bottom because of the curvature of the Earth" http://books.google.com/books?id=MEYgAAAAIAAJ&q=%22bottom+be...
and two links for the same observation for the Humber Estuary Bridge in:
- The Guinness Book of Records (1993) - http://books.google.com/books?id=RsNPAAAAYAAJ&q=humber+estua...
- Transport, Volumes 1-2 - http://books.google.com/books?ei=sX77U-DMN8bmyQOUr4KgBQ&id=X...
That said, for Golden Gate-specific comments, see:
- Ghost Hunter's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area (2005) ("The engineering is so perfect that the towers are actually five inches further apart at the top than the base to account for the curvature of the Earth.") http://books.google.com/books?id=oD52WFx2mykC&pg=PA71&dq=gol...
- Practical Digital Wireless Signals (2010) ("As an example, for the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco the tops of the towers are further apart than the tower bases by about 9 cm due to the curvature of the Earth") - http://books.google.se/books?id=itG9Zwf7eHAC&pg=PA261&dq=%22... .
Therefore, do you really believe that you are the originator of that fact, and due special attribution?