Helix angle the helix angle. The efficiency can be plotted versus the helix angle for a constant friction, as shown in the adjacent diagram. The maximum efficiency is a helix angle between 40 and 45 degrees, however a reasonable efficiency is achieved above 15°. Due to difficulties in forming the thread, helix angle greater than 30° are rarely used. Moreover, above 30° the friction angle becomes smaller than the helix angle and the nut is no longer self-locking and the mechanical advantage disappears. In helical and worm gears, the helix angle denotes the standard pitch circle unless otherwise specified. Application of the
Decimal degrees radius of the semi-major axis of the Earth at the equator is 6,378,137.0 meters resulting in a circumference of 40,075,161.2 meters. The equator is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, so each degree at the equator represents 111,319.9 meters or approximately 111.32 km. As one moves away from the equator towards a pole, however, one degree of longitude is multiplied by the cosine of the latitude, decreasing the distance, approaching zero at the pole. The number of decimal places required for a particular precision at the equator is: A value in decimal degrees to a precision of 4 decimal places