John Harrison’s chronometer (a clock giving Coordinated Universal Time) lost 5 seconds during the 81-day voyage from England to Jamaica. Given that Earth rotates through 15° in 1 hour, how many degrees of longitude would the ship be off, with an error of 5 seconds? How many kilometers and miles would that be, assuming 111 km per degree of longitude?

What will be an ideal response?


0.02 degrees, 2.3 km or 1.4 mi

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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