Scientists have known for hundreds of years that the earth is round, but some people still don’t believe. It’s natural not to believe something without evidence, but there is so much evidence out there that there’s no reason to believe the earth is flat. There are plenty of ways to prove the earth is round, here are 10 that should be convincing.
Ships and the Horizon
If you go down to the ocean and watch for long enough you will probably see a lot of ships appear in front of you. What you’ll notice about these ships is that they almost appear to emerge from below the ocean. As if they were submerged before, and only just reached the surface. This is only possible because the world is round, and not flat. This happens because the ocean gets lower down the further away you go, as the water follows the curvature of the earth, it begins to drop. If the earth was flat the water would not drop or get lower, it would stay at the same level.
The Centre of Gravity
Gravity pulls things towards the centre of mass of an object. On Earth gravity pulls everything towards the centre. And because the planet is round, this means we are always being pulled towards the ground below us, so we don’t float away. However if the world was flat then the centre wouldn’t always be below us. The centre would be in the middle, which would mean if we ever tried to walk away from the centre we would be pulled back by gravity. Imagine if your house was the centre of gravity, if you tried to walk down the street gravity would start pulling you back to your house.
Shadows
One of the first ways to prove the earth is round, came from a man named Eratosthenes in 200BC. Eratosthenes knew that on the first day of summer, at noon the sun would pass directly over the city of Syene, but would cast a shadow of 7 degrees on vertical objects in the city of Alexandria, which is 5000 stadia to the north. If the world is flat then this is difficult to explain, but it makes perfect sense if the world is in fact round. Eratosthenes realised that if 7 degrees equals 5000 stadia, then 360 degrees would equal 250,000 stadia. This meant that according to his calculations the circumference of the world was 250,000 stadia, or 40,000 km which is very close to what scientists believe it is today.
Constellations
If you travel a lot, and like to look at the stars you may have noticed his phenomenon. But the constellations you see in the one part of the world can’t be seen in another part of it. This is something Aristotle noticed when travelling back from Egypt. He noticed that there were stars in Egypt that he had never seen in the northerly regions of the world. He realised that the further you go away from the equator the farther you go from the equator the further known constellations go towards the horizon. He also realised that the Earth can’t be very large, otherwise such a small change in distance wouldn’t make as much of a difference. This is an easy way to prove the earth is round next time you go on holiday somewhere.
Moon
The moon was one of the first clues in discovering that the Earth was in fact round. Hundreds of years ago, Aristotle noticed that during a lunar eclipse the shadow that appears on the moon is actually circular. If the earth was flat then this wouldn’t be possible, but if the earth was round then t would make perfect sense. To prove the Earth is round all you need to do watch the next lunar eclipse, and see for yourself. Instead of waiting for ages, you can watch it online, and look out for the shadow. Because the earth is spinning, the fact that the shadow it creates is always an oval, proves that the earth is not at all flat.
Sight
Humans have known for thousands of ears that you can see further away the higher up you are. When you are up a tower you can see reasonably far, and when you are atop a mountain you can see ridiculously far. Although people have known this for years, it took a while to realise that this was a way to prove the earth is round. If the world was flat there would be no reason as to why getting up high should let you see further, unless there was something blocking your way when down low. Even in plain land with nothing blocking your sight, if you got higher you would see more.
Sunlight
In the past it was a lot harder to work out that the world is round, but in modern times the same scientists would have an easy time doing it as the proof is common knowledge. Everyone knows that when it’s sunny here, it’s dark on the other side of the world. The time of day is different all over the world, and the difference in times suggests that the world is not flat. This phenomenon can only mean that the world is round. If the world was flat then even if the sun wasn’t directly above you, it would still be visible wherever you are.
Pictures
The human race has managed to launch a large variety of things into space like satellites, and people, and not one of them has shown the Earth to be round. There are hundreds of pictures of the earth online they all show the earth to round, and spherical. Other than pictures there are also videos of the earth, and many eye-witness accounts from astronauts. If the earth was round then there would be at least one astronaut or picture that didn’t go along with the narrative, yet not a single astronaut or picture, has ever shown it to be flat.
Aeroplanes
Aeroplanes are one of the simplest ways to prove the earth is round. Planes have proved it countless time by flying around the world without stopping. A plane simply flies straight forward, and eventually it will reach it’s starting point with enough fuel. On a flat earth this wouldn’t be possible, the fly would simply keep flying until it fell of the edge, and got lost in space forever. So far there has never been a case of a plane, or anything at all falling off the planet, which means that world is most definitely round.
Watch The Sunset Lying Down
This is probably the easiest way of all to prove that the world is in fact round. Simply go to a beach that has an obstructed view of the horizon and lye down. Watch the sunset while lying down, and you will see it disappear from sight. After this if you quickly get back into a standing position you will be able to see the sun again, as you are now higher up. This is only possible because the earth is round, otherwise simply being higher wouldn’t increase your field of view.