The farthest distance a satellite signal can directly reach is the length of the segment tangent to the curve of Earth’s surface. If a satellite signal could reach an unlimited distance, could half of the Earth’s surface be reached by the signal at one time? Explain.

Answer :

irspow
No.  cos a=r/(r+h), where r is the radius of the earth, h is the distance from the surface of the earth and a is the half angle of the earth subtended.  While a would approach 90 as h approached infinity it could never actually get to 90 degrees.  It is like an asymptote, close but no cigar :)

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