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acropolis · 6 Oct 2005, 12:20

Despite the technicality that this is all based on an untrue fact, i'd like to comment.

I've noticed that I can see electrical lines from upwards of miles away. They are probably less than an inch thick, and yet i certainly can't see anything 1 inch X 1 inch from anywhere close to that far away. I'm not going to guess about why that is, but I would say that were the situation similar you should be able to see the great wall (assuming 10 feet width?) from (assuming 0.5 inch wire at 2 miles) 240 X 2 = 480 miles. Which is outer space, but certainly not 'the moon'. However, wire is usually ~black agains t~white background, whereas the wall is grayish on grayish. But if someone were to paint the surrounding Chinese countryside, this might be relevant.

Either way, interstate 80 has much better contrast and I'd guess is upwards of 100 feet wide, so I don't see any way in which the wall would ever be "the only thing that could be seen from space"

6 Oct 2005, 12:20	#6
acropolis Vermin Supreme Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 3,280	Re: The Great Wall of China Despite the technicality that this is all based on an untrue fact, i'd like to comment. I've noticed that I can see electrical lines from upwards of miles away. They are probably less than an inch thick, and yet i certainly can't see anything 1 inch X 1 inch from anywhere close to that far away. I'm not going to guess about why that is, but I would say that were the situation similar you should be able to see the great wall (assuming 10 feet width?) from (assuming 0.5 inch wire at 2 miles) 240 X 2 = 480 miles. Which is outer space, but certainly not 'the moon'. However, wire is usually ~black agains t~white background, whereas the wall is grayish on grayish. But if someone were to paint the surrounding Chinese countryside, this might be relevant. Either way, interstate 80 has much better contrast and I'd guess is upwards of 100 feet wide, so I don't see any way in which the wall would ever be "the only thing that could be seen from space"