science Is the earth spherical or flat?

[Envy 6,039]

No one is under any obligation to respect theories like this.  The flat earth theory deserves no respect.  I don't think much else needs to be added, here.

 

Fun fact: if you could scale the Earth down to something small enough to fit in your hand, its surface would be smoother than a billiard ball.  I.e. the distance between the peak of Everest and the bottom of the Mariana Trench would be less than the imperfections on a billiard ball.

 

To even call it a 'theory' is disingenuous and giving the idea far too much credit. They may like to think they can call it a theory, but the concept of a scientific theory is entirely different, and founded on tons and tons of evidence, like the theory of evolution. The flat earth idea can only be called one thing: Debunked.

[Member Berry 1,217]

Why would someone even think that though? I can't even remember a time in my life where I didn't know it was round. Haven't people seen globes? Photos?

[Anneal 2,194]

Surprised nobody posted this yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNqNnUJVcVs

 

If you haven't watched it, you should.  Because Vsauce.

I've seen that before. Really, it's something a high school student already knows. Back in my junior year I took physcis; what VSauce is saying is something you should easily know.

 

In summary he was basically talking about how gravity in a flat disc would hypothetically work, and then used length contraction to point out how if you went at the speed of light, the Earth will appear flat because you have contracted the Earth's diameter into...nothing. And scientists have proven that with muons. Eddington was one of the first to verify Einstein's ideas.

[Grepper 3,192]

Why would someone even think that though? I can't even remember a time in my life where I didn't know it was round. Haven't people seen globes? Photos?

 

Because they believe that "The Establishment" is covering up that the earth is flat. Who knows what "they" would have to gain from lying about it, though.

[Jack Baker 698]

And to think I just heard about this in a podcast not too long ago...

 

You'd have to live under a rock if you still thought the earth was flat. And those people that say the space station pictures are photoshopped just aggravate me to no end.

[Rawzy 1,302]

If there were no oceans on the planet, then it wouldn't be a sphere, you would see giant crevasses where the water would be. Buuuttt.....since we have oceans, it's considered a sphere.

[Lil Pip 775]

Certain regions of the world we still got anti-education propaganda in favor of confirmation bias and affirming/asserting beliefs to be true. I don't wanna think about it. Too much stress can be had from pondering pointlessly over how to convince people who regularly deny reality.

[Shanks 10,811]

The Flat Earth Hypothesis has been dis proven a million times over, it is understandable why primitive people from a few hundred or a few thousand years ago believed that but we have images of Earth from space and those images don't look very flat to me. As another user pointed out some highly advanced ancient cultures were aware that the Earth was round with the Ancient Greeks being the earliest known example. As a matter of fact the scientists and thinkers of Medieval and Renaissance Europe who challenged the Flat Earth Hypothesis got much of their information from surviving documents from the Greeks many of which were translated by Christian monks.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,285]

The world is a disc. It rests on the backs of four immense elephants. (It used t be five, but one died. That's why we have tallow mines) The elephants stand on the back of a gigantic turtle, known as The Great A'tuin. The turtle swims through space. no one knows where it came from, or where it's going. 

 

[Trixie Heartstrings 433]

I'm surprised no one has posted this yet.

Anyway, I know B.o.B. went on Twitter claiming the earth was flat, which ended up bringing the flat earth conspiracy back up. I think Buckley put it best, no one really benefits from "keeping this hidden" except for maybe the companies that sell globes.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Trixie Heartstrings

[Grepper 3,192]

I'm surprised no one has posted this yet.

Anyway, I know B.o.B. went on Twitter claiming the earth was flat, which ended up bringing the flat earth conspiracy back up. I think Buckley put it best, no one really benefits from "keeping this hidden" except for maybe the companies that sell globes.

 

I've known that some people still believe the earth is flat for a while now, but I decided to make this thread after watching that video myself. I didn't bother linking it, so it's interesting that you posted that.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Grepper

[Member Berry 1,217]

So, apparently this online community exists o___o

 

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

[Foxy Socks 2,597]

So, apparently this online community exists o___o

 

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

Dear god, I have seen the site before, and it is scary. xD It is annoying when they deny proof of the sphere earth for invalid illogical reasons, and will not take proof it is. They think it is all a huge conspiracy theory for the most stupid reasons.

[joe mama 60]

The modern world knows its a sphere. Plus, if the earth was flat, how do ships and planes that go around the world for whatever reason, not fall off the edge?

Because there is a portal at each edge of the flat Earth that also ports over visuals so that it looks spherical... We're all in Minecraft... Beware. Wait, why would you beware? Oh well.

[Member Berry 1,217]

Dear god, I have seen the site before, and it is scary. xD It is annoying when they deny proof of the sphere earth for invalid illogical reasons, and will not take proof it is. They think it is all a huge conspiracy theory for the most stupid reasons.

Surely this is considered a delusion. It's worrying.

[ConcorDisparate 385]

If there were no oceans on the planet, then it wouldn't be a sphere, you would see giant crevasses where the water would be. Buuuttt.....since we have oceans, it's considered a sphere.

 

Isn't it negligible compared to the size of Earth ? Say you had a ball, diameter : 1 meter, with crevasses. Would you consider it's wrong to call it a sphere, because it has holes that are 1 millimeter deep ?

 

EDIT : Earth diameter ~ 6,371,000 meters, oceans depth ~ 4,000 meters, I didn't find exacts numbers, but I think it's good enough.

Edited July 14, 2016 by ConcorDisparate

[Brony Number 42 10,045]

The vast majority of what you think you know has been told to you. You simply accept it. Even if someone explained the experiments to you, you have never done them yourself. So how can you be sure what you believe is true?

[ConcorDisparate 385]

@@BronyNumber42,

 

You don't have to redo everything to know it is true. What matters is that you could do it, not that you did.

[Member Berry 1,217]

The vast majority of what you think you know has been told to you. You simply accept it. Even if someone explained the experiments to you, you have never done them yourself. So how can you be sure what you believe is true?

Why would NASA lie? NASA has more credibility than The Flat Earth Society. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njCDZWTI-xg

 

I'm sure this isn't fake.

 

Being on a plane proves the earth isn't flat. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by Kayleigh

[Brony Number 42 10,045]

@@BronyNumber42,

 

You don't have to redo everything to know it is true. What matters is that you could do it, not that you did.

Could you prove the atomic theory?

[Treble Sketch 360]

Being a Space Enthusiast, I still get users coming to me and ranting on about this...

Luckily, there's a "Ban" and/or "Block" button for me to press if they do get really aggressive...

But I do watch a Space conspirator YT videos for fun sometimes XD

[LHfunk 422]

This makes me think of two movies. One, a movie I can't really remember that I think is called Sinbad where I'm pretty sure they sail off the edge of the world into a magical portal thing. Two, Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I haven't read the book, but the movie was pretty good.

 

Anyway, I really don't know how I could argue with someone about the earth's supposed flatness. I guess I could show them pictures taken from a trip into the mountains where you can see the earth curve? The whole idea is ludicrous. 

[cider float 2,537]

The modern world knows its a sphere. Plus, if the earth was flat, how do ships and planes that go around the world for whatever reason, not fall off the edge?

Valid point, planes have sky roads that take them around the Pacific ocean. How can you argue about that?

[Anneal 2,194]

Could you prove the atomic theory?

Simple, the observation of Brownian motion proves that atoms and molecules do exist and supports the atomic theory. Robert Brown observed it first, and then studied much later by Jean Perrin and Albert Einstein and continues to hold true to this day.

 

J.J.Thomson also proved not only that atoms exist, but atoms had substructure as well (discovering the electron). There are plenty of experiments that support the atomic theory and at least two centuries worth of experimentation and proof. You can argue that everything has uncertainty but based on experiments and observations it is extremely unlikely the atomic theory is false.

 

Conversely, there is no solid nor reliable proof that the Earth is flat or less than ten thousand years old relative to us. There is a whole lot of experiments and observations that refute them.

[honk friend 1,972]

people who still believe in a flat earth in this day and age have no concept of how basic physics works

even if you don't believe there's anything actually in orbit of earth, even if you believe earth is just a flat disc accelerating upward at 9.8m/s, what's causing the earth to accelerate upward? what about plate tectonics, how do mountains, volcanoes, ridges, and trenches exist in a world where plate tectonics is pretty much impossible?

how come we have tides, and 24 hour days instead of 6 hour days? that isn't possible without a satellite as big as the moon in orbit of the earth

in fact, without the moon, there would be very little inertia to keep us or the atmosphere in place, meaning we would all die from the sun's harsh radiation

but I guess the sun doesn't have very harsh radiation if it's super small and actually quite close to us

only it's not, because that doesn't explain lunar eclipses, other easily observable celestial bodies, and the international space station which can be seen from a fucking telescope

Keep in mind some people are crazy enough to think that the moon landings were faked and stuff around those lines.  Some people are just plain ignorant and nothing can be done to convince them of otherwise.

the moon landing being faked is one of the more popular and well-founded conspiracy theories, which is why it's still discussed to this day

you don't have to be crazy to think it was faked, just a bit of a skeptic