# If the Earth were a cube
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 30, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277 "2002-08-30T13:21:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/1 "2002-08-30T13:21:17Z")
I know, I know the Earth couldn’t maintain a cubic shape. But if it could would it be possible for civilization to evolve? Would there be six totally separate evolutionary paths. How high would the face oceans be, would it be possible to sail them?
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### Author:  [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/2 "2002-08-30T13:27:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I know, I know the Earth couldn’t maintain a cubic shape. But if it could would it be possible for civilization to evolve?
Perhaps Earth can’t. But [time](http://www.timecube.com/) can!
Muhahahahaaaa…!
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/3 "2002-08-30T13:29:35Z")
Insert obligatory Bizarro world joke here.
Given that the edges would probably extend out of the atmosphere, unless people got really crazed about tunneling I don’t think they’d get to the other faces without space travel.
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### Author:  [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/4 "2002-08-30T13:33:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ring \*
> \*\*I know, I know the Earth couldn’t maintain a cubic shape. But if it could would it be possible for civilization to evolve? Would there be six totally separate evolutionary paths. How high would the face oceans be, would it be possible to sail them? \*\*
Ring, what made you think of this? Long long ago I seem to reemember seeing a Superman comic where there was an AU with a square earth. Anyone else remember that?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/5 "2002-08-30T13:53:21Z")
We had a thread about this a while ago; gravitational forces would cause the oceans to form into lens-shaped blobs on each face, the surfaces of all of them together would still describe pretty much a sphere; is the cube big enough that the edges are not immersed? if not, then it would be (to the inhabitants) as if it were waterworld with eight evenly-spaced pyramidal mountains.
I assume that we’re talking about a cubical earth of the same solid volume as our own and with oceans made of the same volume of water; what would that look like; how high above sea level would the corners and edges be?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/6 "2002-08-30T13:56:49Z")
We discussed the idea and implications of a cubical Earth quite a while back here on the SDMB. The problem is that it’s phenomenallu unstable – those edges alone would dwarf earthly mountains and instantly collapse under their own weight, not to mention the corners. You’d need some ultra-strong science-fictional materiual, like the _scrith_ Larry niven built his Ringworld out of, in order to realize your dream.
The gravity would be weird – except at the centers of the faces, edges, and corners, “down” would not be towards the geometrical center. Everything not nailed down would still tend to fall toward the center of each face, so I assume you’d need some sort of terrace system to keep everything from ending up at the Ocean of each face.
The mountains that are the edges and corners would be incredibly steep and tall and would protrude above the atmosphere. (God known what your weather patterns would look like.) Unless you had strategic tunnels from one face to another, you’d have six independent “worlds” on your cube – one for each face.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/7 "2002-08-30T14:31:30Z")
Columbus would’ve sailed off the edge.
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### Author:  [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/8 "2002-08-30T14:36:47Z")
Somebody smack **Chandeleur**. He’s bringing up things best left undisturbed.
Gee, it sounds kinda spooky when I put it that way.
RR
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### Author:  [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/9 "2002-08-30T15:20:30Z")
Would the edge mountains look high? Earth’s gravity wouldn’t curve space much, so I would think they’d look flat. Just think of the great perfectly flat ski runs on the polar faces.
Could the Vikings launch a boat on the oceans? What would a tidal wave look like?
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/10 "2002-08-30T16:17:09Z")
I’m packing to move but oneof Escher’s illustrations IIRC is of a cube or pyramid shaped asteroid with terracing so it’s possible to stand on a gravitationally horizontal surface aside from the middle of each face.
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/11 "2002-08-30T16:30:18Z")
[size=1][hijack]I was educated stupid I guess, cause I can’t grasp the time cube. **Chandeleur** has proven that psych wards have internet access now, and thery are actively teaching HTML. My brain hurts now. That is truly one of the strangest things I have seen on the web.[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/12 "2002-08-30T16:30:27Z")
[hijack]I was educated stupid I guess, cause I can’t grasp the time cube. **Chandeleur** has proven that psych wards have internet access now, and thery are actively teaching HTML. My brain hurts now. That is truly one of the strangest things I have seen on the web.[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/13 "2002-08-30T16:36:35Z")
:smack: not fast enough.
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### Author:  [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/14 "2002-08-30T17:01:17Z")
What if the oceans were “flat” on each side? If somebody sailed over the edge they might and up tipping over onto another side, or maybe they’d fall, and to the inhabitants on the next surface they’d appear to be flying past.
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### Author:  [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2002, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/15 "2002-08-31T11:50:32Z")
[If the Earth were a cube](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=70933) **Ring** , did you already forget you posted it, or why didn’t you bump that instead?
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### Author:  [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/16 "2002-08-31T15:48:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by femtosecond \*
> \*\*[If the Earth were a cube](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=70933) **Ring** , did you already forget you posted it, or why didn’t you bump that instead? \*\*
Damn, that’s incredible. I swear I do not remember making that post. I even used the exact same subject title….absolutely amazing and scary. I wonder if it’s mad cow disease or Al’s himeres.
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### Author:  [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/17 "2002-09-01T02:02:30Z")
Aren’t we actually truly not supposed to link to the timecube site for some reason? I seem to recall a period where those links were being closed, like the site there was logging where they were getting their clickthroughs and there was some consequence to the SDMB that we didn’t like… am I totally making this up?
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/18 "2002-09-01T03:47:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by White Lightning \*
> \*\*Aren’t we actually truly not supposed to link to the timecube site for some reason? I seem to recall a period where those links were being closed, like the site there was logging where they were getting their clickthroughs and there was some consequence to the SDMB that we didn’t like… am I totally making this up? \*\*
You’re thinking of Alex Chiu, the marketer of an “eternal life device”. Apparently, if his server logs sufficient hits from a site, his prosyletizing minions will descend on that site. I only know this because I, not knowing of the problem, posted a link which was promptly removed by a moderator. If you want to check out the site just search Yahoo for “alex chiu” (with the quotes). It’s the first site that comes up. It’s every bit as goofy as timecube.
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### Author:  [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/19 "2002-09-01T05:36:13Z")
Ah yes, I remember Alex Chiu. And you’re right, that is what I was thinking of. Thanks for clearing that up, **davidm**.
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### Author:  [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2002, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/126277/20 "2002-09-01T09:54:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Ring_
> **Damn, that’s incredible. I swear I do not remember making that post. I even used the exact same subject title….absolutely amazing and scary. I wonder if it’s mad cow disease or Al’s himeres.**
Don’t worry, I sometimes forget what I had for lunch sooner than it takes it to leave me again.
So you’re going to send me the money like you promised in another thread?
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