Is the earth flat?
Dr. Shaquille O'Neal, a PhD, has said so. Keep in mind that man has a doctorate so don't call him dumb.
31-35, F
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Xuan12 · 31-35, M
No, it isn't flat. You can see that it's not.
heatherpommelman · 31-35, F
No I can't. Just looked forward. Seems flat to me.
Xuan12 · 31-35, M
@heatherpommelman: Have you ever wondered why objects disappear over the horizon when you're far enough away from them?
Try going to a large plain or body of water several miles wide with objects on the other side. Use a telescope or binoculars if you need to, but you'll notice that you cannot see the bottoms of tall objects that are that far away. Doors on the ground floor of buildings won't be visible, nor will cars or people. Likewise, if an object is approaching you from beyond the visual horizon, the first parts of it that are visible are the highest parts. You can even test this even easier if you live in a smooth area just by finding a tall object near your home (taller than your home of course), and moving away from both until you can no longer see one, but can still see the top of the other. This is even easier to demonstrate if you just tie something like a weather balloon on your property and travel away until you can for some reason, no longer see your much larger house, but still see the smaller-than-your-house weather balloon that's a few meters above your house.
This is because in all cases the bottoms of the objects/shorter/lower objects are hidden from view by the curvature of the Earth. If the Earth was flat, we would all be able to see the peak of Mt. Everest from almost anywhere on Earth with just a telescope. Likewise, if the Earth was flat, you should be able to take a telescope up the rocky mountains and be able to see NYC. But unless you're actually in the local vicinity of Mt. Everest or NYC, you'll never actually manage to find them this way, because the Earth is not actually flat.
Additionally, you could just get on a plane with a somewhat high cruising altitude. You can usually see 2 to 3 degrees of arc at such altitudes if you have about 60degrees of vision.
Try going to a large plain or body of water several miles wide with objects on the other side. Use a telescope or binoculars if you need to, but you'll notice that you cannot see the bottoms of tall objects that are that far away. Doors on the ground floor of buildings won't be visible, nor will cars or people. Likewise, if an object is approaching you from beyond the visual horizon, the first parts of it that are visible are the highest parts. You can even test this even easier if you live in a smooth area just by finding a tall object near your home (taller than your home of course), and moving away from both until you can no longer see one, but can still see the top of the other. This is even easier to demonstrate if you just tie something like a weather balloon on your property and travel away until you can for some reason, no longer see your much larger house, but still see the smaller-than-your-house weather balloon that's a few meters above your house.
This is because in all cases the bottoms of the objects/shorter/lower objects are hidden from view by the curvature of the Earth. If the Earth was flat, we would all be able to see the peak of Mt. Everest from almost anywhere on Earth with just a telescope. Likewise, if the Earth was flat, you should be able to take a telescope up the rocky mountains and be able to see NYC. But unless you're actually in the local vicinity of Mt. Everest or NYC, you'll never actually manage to find them this way, because the Earth is not actually flat.
Additionally, you could just get on a plane with a somewhat high cruising altitude. You can usually see 2 to 3 degrees of arc at such altitudes if you have about 60degrees of vision.
heatherpommelman · 31-35, F