Have you ever thought about accepting any other shape but a sphere for the Earth? Recently, a friend of mine started talking about the Flat Earth Theory and it sparked his curiosity. That got me thinking about looking in to this theory and evidence, if any.
Surprisingly, there is still a small amount of people that believe the almost ancient theory that Earth is a flat disk, known as the flat-earthers. They believe that Antarctica surrounds the perimeter of the disk as a wall to prevent people from going over the ‘edge’ and that the Earth is the centre of the universe. Not only does this just sound wrong, this theory has been disproven. But, it is interesting and crazy to think about how some people stray from the information we have always been taught.
Flat Earth view Credit: Wikipedia
Flat-earthers manipulated what a NASA engineer stated about the danger of the Van Allen belts, saying that no humans can pass the belts. Despite all of the evidence people refuse to believe a trip into space was made. This report expands on the science behind the radiation belts and how Apollo went through them.
My confusion and annoyance as to why this theory is still believed is heightened because there is intangible evidence, such as observations from non-science background believers. If all the pictures from NASA weren’t enough evidence to discredit the Flat Earth theory, lets revisit a few more reasons.
Lunar Eclipses
〉A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the plane of the Earth’s orbit and the Earth casts its shadow upon the Moon, which is rounded- only caused by a spherical object.
Lunar Eclipse Credit: Wikipedia & Tomruen
Gravity and Equations
〉Isaac Newton discovered the force of gravity and tested it everywhere it could be tested and found that the force of gravity was constant on the planet, further strengthening the reasoning as to why the Earth is round.
〉The equation for determining force of gravity F= GMm/r^2 uses the Earth’s radius (which already assumes the Earth is spherical) has not been disproved for thousands of years which gives no arguments for flat-earthers.
Time Zones
〉the reason time zones exist is that one region is completely dark versus an area that is completely lit which occurs while the Earth is in orbit and one side is facing the Sun versus the other facing away.
→versus flat-earther’s spotlight theory which wouldn’t allow for time zones as the Sun rays are considered to be parallel on all surfaces.
Although there is no legitimate reason for anyone to believe this theory, it definitely is astounding to think about why the flat-earthers believe this theory and why the theory is still considered so many centuries after all of this concrete evidence surfaced. It adds to how media can be manipulated and words can be interpreted into something completely different when science isn’t understood or explained to all audiences. Seems an Astronomy lesson may be due for them. (or two)
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