I'll try to put your mind at ease.
I ran into some flatearthers a couple of years ago so I started paying attention to the world around us from that perspective. Why do I believe that the earth is a globe? How do I prove that the earth is not flat? These were questions that I, shockingly, actually didn't have an answer to, beyond what I had learned in school, which doesn't usually constitute proof.
First off, let's ignore photo and video "evidence" because it is too easy to change to support either side of this argument.
Second, let's first take a look at the solar system, as flatearthers also say that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun and planets orbit around the earth. This is easily shown to not be the case by the retrograde motion of the planets, which makes them appear to suddenly move in the opposite direction when viewed from the earth. This is only possible if the earth and all the other planets of our solar system orbit the sun. Going a little further with that thought then, I can't picture a bunch of flat pancakes orbiting the sun. And eclipses were already mentioned.
Third, trust your own observations. The curvature of the earth is easiest seen on the ocean, as in your statue of liberty example. When in Mexico, I saw a cruise ship on a clear and reasonably calm night steaming parallel to the Caribbean coast with one row of lights clearly, and steadily visible from the beach. With the flatearthers in mind, I ran up to our third floor room and had another look- now three rows of lights one above the other were clearly visible. I can only draw one conclusion. Earth's surface=curved.
I think this curvature could also be demonstrated by setting up a surveyors transit on a beach by the ocean, fix the crosshairs on the horizon, and as you turn the instrument far enough to either side the horizon should start dropping, demonstrating the curvature of the earth. I haven't actually tried this but in my imagination I can see it working, lol. If someone has a chance to do this experiment, please report back with the results.
Cheers,
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
Many thanks for your detailed response. As I said, I do believe there is some curvature, but not of the extent we are being told. I will, once I get my hands on a serious zoom lens, be able to carry out my own tests and post the results here :)