Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1119/5.0254073

Publication Title

The Physics Teacher

Volume

64

Issue

3

Pages

A236

Abstract

The article focuses on estimating the height of the Yorktown Victory Monument in Virginia, which commemorates the 1781 victory in the American Revolution. Using trigonometric calculations based on angles observed from a specific distance, the total height of the monument is estimated to be approximately 30.7 meters (about 100 feet), while the height of the Liberty statue atop the pedestal is estimated at around 6 meters (approximately 20 feet). The article notes that the actual total height of the monument is 98 feet, with the statue measuring 14 feet, indicating that the initial estimates were inaccurate, particularly for the statue's height. The discrepancies in the estimates are attributed to errors in angle measurement.

Rights

© 2026 Authors.

“This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in

 Adam, J. (2026). Liberty on a pedestal: Solutions for Fermi questions, March 2026. The Physics Teacher, 64(3), A236.

and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0254073.

Original Publication Citation

Adam, J. (2026). Liberty on a pedestal: Solutions for Fermi questions, March 2026. The Physics Teacher, 64(3), A236. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0254073

ORCID

0000-0001-5537-2889 (Adam)

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Available for download on Monday, March 01, 2027

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