# How can one prove that the earth is a sphere (or close to it)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2018, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973 "2018-10-15T11:50:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/101 "2018-10-19T18:25:19Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > If the Earth is flat, why are the other planets spherical? Are we special? Yes, That is sort of the point of a lot of anti science nonsense. Evolution is wrong because it means we are not special unique being created by a higher power. Helio centrism is wrong because it means that the earth is not the center of the universe etc. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/102 "2018-10-19T20:38:55Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > The reason I’ve heard from various flat-earthers is basically the one given here: > > [https://www.brainjet.com/world/2456216/the-real-reason-scientists-are-lying-about-the-earth-being-round-according-to-flat-earthers/](https://www.brainjet.com/world/2456216/the-real-reason-scientists-are-lying-about-the-earth-being-round-according-to-flat-earthers/) That kind of misses my question. I understand the consequences of revealing that the Earth is indeed flat. Yet, it has been flat all along. It was _never_ not flat: what was gained, all those centuries ago, when all those fiendish scientists convinced us that it was a spheroid? Was it solely about getting us to support their sciency stuff? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/103 "2018-10-19T22:26:16Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That kind of misses my question. I understand the consequences of revealing that the Earth is indeed flat. Yet, it has been flat all along. It was _never_ not flat: what was gained, all those centuries ago, when all those fiendish scientists convinced us that it was a spheroid? Was it solely about getting us to support their sciency stuff? It’s here: _Because by the time they figured it out … the industrialized world — the cement was already cast," said Sargent, according to the Edmonton Journal piece._ What’s implied is that the pre-industrialized world got it wrong. It’s after that that we figured out the truth, and it was too late to let the truth out. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/104 "2018-10-20T02:07:46Z")
The biggest hoax flat earthers have pulled off is not convincing anyone that the world is actually flat, but convincing people that they actually believe that it is flat. They don’t. They are just playing the “how do you know?” game. You can’t convince them the world is round because they already know that it is. They’re just throwing BS arguments to see how many people they can fool. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/105 "2018-10-20T16:33:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > So, if the world were in fact flat, and all these globalist conspirators are working together (a dubious notion in the first place, based on the inability of large international groups to actually collaborate) to dupe us into believing in a ball Earth, what exactly do the globalists gain by perpetrating the fiction? [ol] [li]Dupe the population into believing the Earth is a ball[/li][li]???[/li][li]Profit![/li][/ol]I have seen all those uncounted billions NASA gets to spend mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![ohiomstr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/82dd89/32.png) [@ohiomstr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ohiomstr2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/106 "2018-10-20T16:58:02Z")
It can be fun to bait folks who pitch this kind of nonsense, in small doses, but you cannot convince them. My take on the believers is that they are either ignorant, are too impaired to understand reality or are deliberately being contrary. The one or two i have personally talked to were most definitely the latter ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/107 "2018-10-20T16:59:48Z")
I still cannot get how the FECTs believe that the circling lamp concept can explain the track of the sun or the moon. It simply does not work. At all. “It is a perspective illusion.” No, it is not. There is **no way** that a perspective illusion works. None. These bodies do not get smaller near the horizon, and often the look larger. We can see them cross the horizon, at the same size, something overhead circling lamp thingies would not do. End of story. Your FE model _ **does not work** _. Not even a little. ---
**Author:** ![ohiomstr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/82dd89/32.png) [@ohiomstr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ohiomstr2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/108 "2018-10-20T16:59:51Z")
Forgot to add Shame on CBS for airing this garbage, talk about fake news! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/109 "2018-10-20T20:42:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The fact that no one has ever come to an edge. Or… No one has ever come back from an edge to tell us about it. They could have been sucked into some sort of void (or turtle). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/110 "2018-10-20T20:53:54Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > The biggest hoax flat earthers have pulled off is not convincing anyone that the world is actually flat, but convincing people that they actually believe that it is flat. > > They don’t. They are just playing the “how do you know?” game. You can’t convince them the world is round because they already know that it is. They’re just throwing BS arguments to see how many people they can fool. in general? yes, you are right. I suspect that they are pretty much all just playing at it. I say _pretty much_ because the human mind is capable of properly believing absolute absurdities but…yeah. We are best off just treating them as if they have been sent to annoy us. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/111 "2018-10-24T15:44:09Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I still cannot get how the FECTs believe that the circling lamp concept can explain the track of the sun or the moon. It simply does not work. At all. “It is a perspective illusion.” No, it is not. There is **no way** that a perspective illusion works. None. \*\*These bodies do not get smaller near the horizon, and often the look larger. \*\*We can see them cross the horizon, at the same size, something overhead circling lamp thingies would not do. End of story. Your FE model _ **does not work** _. Not even a little. The moon looking larger near the horizon is an optical illusion. Use a sextant to measure the width of the moon near the horizon and again near the zenith. The zenith measurement is always larger because the observer is 6400km (the radius of the earth) closer to the moon when it is directly overhead. Of course the flat-earthers will use this as an excuse to bolster their theory that the moon is just a few thousand miles away. Separately: On a call-in internet show, one whack-a-doodle claimed that the moon was self illuminating. In addition, the moon emits “cool” light not hot sunlight. He claimed that if you put a thermometer in direct full-moonlight on a clear, night with no wind, and placed another thermometer five feet away, but use a sheet of paper to block the moonlight, the thermometer that was receiving moonlight was cooler than the one in which the moon was obscured by the cardboard. From the wikipedia page on radiative cooling: > [@](#): > > To feel the effect, one compares the difference between looking straight up into a cloudless night sky for several seconds, to that of placing a sheet of paper between one’s face and the sky. Since outer space radiates at about a temperature of 3 kelvins (-270 degrees Celsius or -450 degrees Fahrenheit), and the sheet of paper radiates at about 300 kelvins (room temperature), the sheet of paper radiates more heat to one’s face than does the darkened cosmos. The effect is blunted by Earth’s surrounding atmosphere, and particularly the water vapor it contains, so the apparent temperature of the sky is far warmer than outer space. Note that it is not correct to say that the sheet “blocks the cold” of the night sky; instead, the sheet is radiating heat to your face, ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/112 "2018-10-24T16:42:04Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > Separately: On a call-in internet show, one whack-a-doodle claimed that the moon was self illuminating. In addition, the moon emits “cool” light not hot sunlight. He claimed that if you put a thermometer in direct full-moonlight on a clear, night with no wind, and placed another thermometer five feet away, but use a sheet of paper to block the moonlight, the thermometer that was receiving moonlight was cooler than the one in which the moon was obscured by the cardboard. > > From the wikipedia page on radiative cooling: That one is easy to test properly. Two thermometers, each one covered by a sheet of cardboard with a hole in it. For one thermometer, its sheet of cardboard provides a clear view of the full moon and nothing else. For the other, thermometer, its sheet of cardboard provides a clear view of the empty night sky, blocking its view of the moon. Actual science predicts the moon-viewing thermometer will be at a slightly higher temp, due to the solar light/heat reflected by the moon toward that thermometer. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/113 "2020-02-23T09:47:02Z")
I have revived this zombie to post news of the demise of “Mad” Mike Hughes who crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday. Hughes was well-known for his belief that the Earth was flat. He hoped to prove his theory by going to space to see for himself. I guess that he also qualifies for a Darwin Award. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/114 "2020-02-23T09:56:49Z")
Hit the dome did ya? Mike is now flatter than the Earth. See, rockets _don’t_ work in space, or any where else! Shoulda joined the Freemasons Mike! Mike’s \*stuff \*wasn’t _right_! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/115 "2020-02-23T10:51:32Z")
I actually regularly read a webcomic whose authors actually run a [blog devoted to providing multiple proofs that the Earth is not flat](https://www.mezzacotta.net/100proofs/). In fact, I’m sure many people also read [the webcomic](https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1812.html), but I don’t know how many check the links at the bottom. I do because I support the authors on Patreon. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/116 "2020-02-24T02:23:42Z")
[The guy wasn’t a true flat-earther.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/otilliasteadman/mad-mike-hughes-rocket-death-flat-earth?utm_source=digg) He was a true dare devil who used the flat-earth shtick to get publicity and fund his work, truly believing that there was a safe, budget path to outer space. Pretty much just as stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Crossbreed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Crossbreed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crossbreed)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/117 "2020-02-24T02:47:18Z")
Compare your sundial at (local) noon to those in other parts of the world (via phone-call or Skype). ---
**Author:** ![Crossbreed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Crossbreed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crossbreed)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/118 "2020-02-24T09:30:01Z")
In the northern hemisphere, calculate the angle of the Pole Star above the horizon. At the north pole, it is about 90°. On the equator, it is about 0°. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/119 "2020-02-24T12:34:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I have revived this zombie to post news of the demise of “Mad” Mike Hughes who crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday. Hughes was well-known for his belief that the Earth was flat. He hoped to prove his theory by going to space to see for himself. > > I guess that he also qualifies for a Darwin Award. Alas, he is ineligible as he reproduced before he died. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973/120 "2020-02-24T12:56:46Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Alas, he is ineligible as he reproduced before he died. [Reproduction](https://darwinawards.com/rules/rules1.html) > [@](#): > > The existence of offspring, though potentially deleterious to the gene pool, does not disqualify a nominee. Children inherit only half of each parent’s genetic material and thus have their own chance to survive or snuff themselves. If, for instance, the offspring has inherited the “Play With Combustibles” gene, but also has inherited the “Use Caution When…” gene, then she is a potential innovator and asset to the human race. Therefore, each nominee is judged based on whether or not she has removed her own genes, without consideration to the number of offspring or, in the case of an elderly winner, the likelihood of producing more offspring. [What if a Darwin Award nominee has reproduced?](https://darwinawards.com/rules/rules.children.html) > [@](#): > > Is a nominee automatically disqualified if he has offspring? Since genetic and environmental factors both play a role in determining our choices and behaviors, we will need to discuss each as a source of potential Darwin Award candidates, then attempt to answer the question posed above. > > And finally, the child who inherits an unlucky gene will have his own shot at notoriety one day. So the rules do not disqualify nominees who have already reproduced. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-one-prove-that-the-earth-is-a-sphere-or-close-to-it/822973.md?page=7)