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Prove the Earth is round

DangerousBeliefs

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DangerousBeliefs
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Aug 25, 2003
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Our good friend Kumar has put forth a challenge - Prove the Earth is round.

Unfortunately, he added clauses like Prove the Earth is round "to an idiot".

So, how about it folks?

I can think of a mathematical proof, that of Eratosthenes from around 230 BC.

He basically took measurements at two different spots on the Earth and used these to figure the circumference... showing the Earth is a near circle.

I would also add that if one goes onto a high mountain, she should be able to see "the other end of the Earth" if it was flat. Since it is not, one could potentially use basic geometry to figure the angles and come up with a rough circumference.

This all assumes that math is correct and 1 + 1 = 2 (a stretch, I know).

Beyond that, I'm thinking shooting Kumar into space might be the next best option.

Any other ideas on proving the Earth is round without photography?

Kumar said:
Mr.devefoc& others,

It is not a right approach to reject any existing aspect just because it could not be seen properly. I can also speak as under:-

Prove me the earth is round or oval not flat

Any aspect unless experienced or seen personally & physically by the majority of world population, can not be taken as proved. All the camera photography can be just a trick photography & all the mentionings or teachings can be just a hypnotisms for the Vested Interests i.e. money, popularity & publicities. One of the said best achievement of CS is that they made earth as round/oval from flat but not yet seen/experianced physically by majority of world's population. Science can not confirm/prove it unless this majority check it like a ball in their fingers. Whereas, in all practical & physical experiences it is flat. If it is round like a ball how we can stand errect & stable. How water & things on it are stable. I say it can be fake mentionig that it is round/oval because all the things can be stable on flat surface not on round surface.

Most of the scientific new research may work in this manner. Whereas homeopathy along with other sprituals are physically experianced by this majority.

In the above considerations, how you can prove Current science & disprove homeopathy along with other sprituals?
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I can't take credit for this one, but here's a very simple way I once read.

Take the presupposed idiot out onto the beach, and watch the ships sail away. Point out to him that the bottom of the ship dissappears firs, next the middle, and finally the funnels/masts. This makes sense only if the Earth is round, and the ship is folowing the curve of the Earth. If the Earth were flat, however, the ship would appear to get smaller and smaller until it was just a dot on the horizon.
 
Hmmm, as I understand it, to experience this personally requires you to find an ocean, find a sail boat, or at least a boat with a tall mast or structure, get some good binoculars or a telescope on a tripod, watch as the boat sails away, and see the bottom of the boat disappear before the top of the mast.

To prove it mathematically, do the shadow measuring thing at different spots on the earth.

Edited to add: CURSE YOU ELABORATE!! :) Same time post but you beat me too it.
 
Walk in a straight line (a truly straight line) out your front door.

Later, you will reach your back door.
 
Throw babseball very fast towards the west. Catch baseball while facing east. Read stuck-on list of countries passed-through from said baseball.
 
Tell them that the different time zones prove the world is round. I mean, after all, they are an idiot.
 
Send somebody like Billy Graham up in the space shuttle and have him look back on earth. We will then rely on him to tell us the truth as to what he sees.
 
Another proof: give the idiot a shovel and tell him to start digging in the U.S. If he pops up in China, the Earth is round.

This brings up a question: If the Earth is flat, what the hell is on the bottom side?
 
SquishyDave: Hmmm, as I understand it, to experience this personally requires you to find an ocean, find a sail boat, or at least a boat with a tall mast or structure, get some good binoculars or a telescope on a tripod, watch as the boat sails away, and see the bottom of the boat disappear before the top of the mast.
Click to expand...
This effect can be experienced with the naked eye, no telescope or binoculars required.
 
Get a transit or level and shoot a really long line.

Observe tides, moon, & sun, and try to explain using a flat-earth model.

Where would Pellucidar be if the earth was flat?

Stand on the edge of the earth and try to measure a plumb line.
 
xouper said:
This effect can be experienced with the naked eye, no telescope or binoculars required.
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Oh Ok, thanks, that makes it just that little bit more accessable for people to try this themselves, and settle in their own mind the earth is round. I would use some binoculars, as then I could really see it clearly but it's good to know if I am ever in this situation without magnification devices I can see it.
 
UMM the earth isn't round , it's pear shaped. You can't see that from my house tho. I think the ship example is a good start , but the ancient mathmatitian/plumber procrastinese ( seeking to find the best gradient for doo-doo disposal in a waste pipe, but not wanting to rush anything ) performed an experiment . The setting is that he starts out at a point with the sun directly overhead on the summer solstice with a stick ( called at the time "stick" I beleve ) june 21 at the equator then moving north and performing the same experiment (after mesuring the distance he traveled ) a year later devined not only that the earth was round but it's approximate size ( he was a little off, he had tiny feet) and the food was better up north.
Hope this helps.
 
To an idiot, it is not possible to prove that the Earth is round.

You can try every explanation you can think off and spend a great deal of time explaining each proof in detail until you are red, hot, sweaty and exhausted with your efforts. But at the end of all this, the idiot will calmly state.....

"Yeah but.....I still think it's flat"

BillyJoe.
 
In one of Carl Sagan's books (probably "Broca's Brain"), he describes a visit to a kindergarten class. He asks the kids how they could know that the world is round. The kids' responses stunned him.

They mentioned things like pictures of the Earth from space and the Foucault pendulum.
 
Elaborate said:
Take the presupposed idiot out onto the beach, and watch the ships sail away. Point out to him that the bottom of the ship dissappears firs, next the middle, and finally the funnels/masts. This makes sense only if the Earth is round, and the ship is folowing the curve of the Earth. If the Earth were flat, however, the ship would appear to get smaller and smaller until it was just a dot on the horizon.
Click to expand...

UNLESS IT FELL OFF THE EDGE!! :eek:

:D
 
BillyJoe: To an idiot, it is not possible to prove that the Earth is round.
Click to expand...
Interesting point. Just look how difficult it's been trying to convince some poeple that <nobr>0.999... = 1</nobr> in another recent thread that has grown to more than 400 posts. :)
 
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