[Vocabulary] slant

[Cynthia Garett]

Hi,

I would like to know what does "slant" mean in this sentence. I read in the dictionary that it means to "slope", but I just cannot picture it. Doesn't the Moon appear full when the Sun rays are perpendicular on the Moon's surface? If they slope, the Moon appears only a portion full. I might be overthinking this though .

Thank you.

Much like what Zhang Heng had said, Shen Kuo likened the moon to a ball of silver, which does not produce light, but simply reflects light if provided from another source (the sun). He explained that when the sun’s light is slanting, the moon appears full.

 

[probus]

I agree that Zhang Heng and Shen Kuo are both wrong. As any mathematician will tell you, all depends on the frame of reference. What is perpendicular to me is slanted to you since you and I stand in different positions.

But I also must disagree with your statement that the moon appears full "when the Sun rays are perpendicular on the Moon's surface". Draw a line from the moon to the sun. The moon appears full to us when the angle between the earth and that line is equal to the angle between the sun and that line. Per Euclid.

 

[Roman55]

Draw a line from the moon to the sun. The moon appears full to us when the angle between the earth and that line is equal to the angle between the sun and that line. Per Euclid.

I am not a teacher.

I know what you are trying to say, but you haven't said it.

If the line is drawn between the sun and the moon, there is no angle between the sun and the line. In fact, when the angles are the same it's called a total eclipse.

 

[emsr2d2]

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

 

[Cynthia Garett]

Ok. So "slant" does mean "slope" here. It's correct. It was just my astronomy skills that failed me .

 

[Weaver67]

I like how it is expalined here: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/slant

Not a teacher.