There are many ways this can be done.
The ancient Greeks measured the lengths of shadows at two different locations a few hundred miles apart on a roughly north-south baseline at noon on the same day of the year. From this using trigonometry the circumference was computed, then using the relationship of circumference to radius the radius can be computed. Almost surprisingly the figure they got was very close to the modern figure.
Columbus repeated this calculation, but due to a combination of bad data in the sources he used (he did not make the measurements himself) and calculation errors on his part he got a result roughly 2/3 of the correct value (an error equivalent to elimination of the Pacific Ocean and the Americas); which convinced him he could easily sail to China & India.
An equivalent calculation can be done using measurements of star positions at night from different locations, using any baseline (e.g. north-south, east-west, diagonals) between the locations as long as the time and day are identical when the measurements are made.
with a big tape measure
The radius of a circle is half the diameter.
Eratosthenes (a greek) was the first person known to have accurately measured earth's radius. He did that about 250 BCE. The trick was to measure the length of the shadow cast by the library at Alexandria during the summer solstice, and knowing the distance between Alexandria and Cyene--a city on the Tropic of Cancer. A bit of trigonometry, and earth's radius falls right out.
If you are a believer, then God did but if you are not, then nobody did. The radius of the earth existed and therefore ots radius did before there was any form of life on earth to invent it.
measure it÷ it by 2.
with a big tape measure
The mean diameter of Earth is 12,742 kilometers or 7917.5 miles.More specifically, if we quote the accurate values for the radius, it changes depending on where you measure it.Mean radius 6,371.0 km = 3958.8 milesEquatorial radius 6,378.1 km = 3963.2 milesPolar radius 6,356.8 km = 3949.9 miles
Venus has a radius of about 6,052 kilometers, which is about 95% of Earth's radius.
There is no error. The Earth is NOT a sphere, it is an oblate spheroid. This is caused by the fact that it is spinning. The spin makes the middle (the equator) bulge out. Thus if you measure the radius to the equator it is 6,378.1 km, while if you measure the radius to a pole it is 6,356.8 km.
The radius of a circle is half the diameter.
Eratosthenes (a greek) was the first person known to have accurately measured earth's radius. He did that about 250 BCE. The trick was to measure the length of the shadow cast by the library at Alexandria during the summer solstice, and knowing the distance between Alexandria and Cyene--a city on the Tropic of Cancer. A bit of trigonometry, and earth's radius falls right out.
Venus has a radius of 6,051.8 kilometers, which is about 95% of Earth's radius. In terms of mass, Venus has about 81.5% of Earth's mass.
measure from the middle out to one side
The Earth's radius is approximately 6,371 kilometers and 3,959 miles.
If you are a believer, then God did but if you are not, then nobody did. The radius of the earth existed and therefore ots radius did before there was any form of life on earth to invent it.
The gravitational force on an object at the Earth's surface is directly proportional to the mass of the Earth and inversely proportional to the square of the Earth's radius. This means that as the Earth's radius increases, the gravitational force on an object at its surface decreases.
The radius of Earth is approximately 6,371 kilometers.