The world is flat

[BrightOranges]

I learnt today that there are 'flat earthers' who seriously believe the conspiracy theories of a flat planet rather than a spherical one.
AIBU to think you can't fix stupid? Or is that too harsh?

Where do Flat Earth supporters put the edges, then? And what's under it?

It does not compute.

Lweji - I like to think of the water falling off the edges in some kind of giant waterfall (think I may have read too much Terry Pratchet)

Of course, that would mean something 'under' the earth is getting really wet

Most educated people in the medival period believed that the earth was round. Colombus set out in the direction he did because he believed the world was round. He was going to India the other way, but got his sums wrong and underestimated the distance around the earth.

Lweji... Where do Flat Earth supporters put the edges, then? And what's under it?

I've heard several theories about these questions, each more surreal than the last, however:

1. Antarctica is a lie, what we're told is Antarctica is actually a wall of ice around the flat earth that stops the water falling off.

I'm not sure where that puts my Naval friend who is part of one of the Antarctic survey teams, maybe he's lying to us all when he tells us amusing stories about penguins?

2. There is a mountain range that rings the earth, with passes through it, so that the select few can go to the underside of the flat earth.

I don't even know where to start with this, but it makes me giggle a bit.

3. Steppemum's Pratchettian waterfalls.

To which the obvious question is, why haven't we run out of water yet?

There's also convex and concave earthers, "firmament" believers who think that there is a kind of microwave splatter guard of stars that keeps everything tucked in, sort of like The Truman Show.

The ice wall is one of the main theories. Personally I'm a fan of the infinite plane theory - it just goes on forever

But there would have to be an edge all around it. And then what?

How come we can get to China via the US or via India?

How do they explain that?

More to the point it sounds like troll-developed theories to trick the really thick people.

And yes, it's an infinite plane because it's the surface of a ball.

touché

Until the 16th centuary, people believed the earth was flat.
Then Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory and, even without any flight even by balloon until 1783, the world took on board the globe theory.

So one man in the 1543 said the earth must be a globe yet nobody could even see the earth from the sky until 240 years later.

I'd be interested to know whether anyone watched the lighthouse curvature video I posted above and any thoughts?

Ok, I'll class myself as impartial and solve this one and for all!!
If all of mumsnet buys me a boat, I'll sail the world and see if I fall off it anywhere, although I'm pretty sure I won't!!
You can all come and wave me off one way and see if I come back from the other direction - I'm hoping it won't take me longer than 80 days (unless I find some nice places to have a rest on the way).
How's that for you all?? We can then settle this once and for all.
I'll need quite a bit of money as I don't want some little sailing boat, I need something a lot bigger, and I'll need a waiter, and gin - lots and lots of gin!

And I promise to tell you all if I see any ice walls with guards!!!

Honestly sheeple.

Nothing would fall of the edge of a flat world because of gravity.

This is true and not the result of mad thinking. If the flat world has the same mass as the earth then nothing is going to fall off the edges, unless you also don't believe in gravity.

There are any amount of straight forward ways to demonstrate the planet is a globe. But the lack of things falling off the edge seriously isn't one of them!

Like I said, my 5yo DD came up with this, so you guys should be able to understand it too!

*Until the 16th centuary, people believed the earth was flat.'

You haven't done your 'research' very well if you've never heard of Eratosthenes

How would a non-more or less- spherical world form in the first place? Obviously for theists that's not an issue, but I thought there was some pretence of coherent 'scientific' explanations.

How do the flat earthers explain round the world sailors then?

ilovebanff

Until the 16th centuary, people believed the earth was flat.
Then Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory

The heliocentric theory is about the Earth moving around the Sun instead of the Sun moving around the (spherical) Earth.

I'd be prepared to argue for the Earth as the centre of the Universe, because, according to Einstein, relativity.

The problem with that map is that the areas don't match the real ones. Because round Earth.

And BTW, how does the horizon prove the Earth is round? Not because it looks straight or round, but BECAUSE IT EXISTS!

If the Earth was flat there would be no horizon.

They say a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous.

Flat Earth - ok we can debunk that one.

Others out there - the Earth is hollow and Aliens live inside it

The moon is a spaceship, parked there 3 billion years ago to watch us
The sun is hollow (youtube and daily mail story to prove it).
Dinosaurs killed themselves in a thermonuclear war.

I'm a science teacher and use these examples to warn students to use Internet sources with care.

Two to think about.

Big bang theory
Steady state theory

Which is true?

We teach one in school as 'fact'.

Both have the word theory as they haven't been conclusively proven.

Well when people say that Copernicus discovered that the Earth moved around the Sun, I hate to tell you that here in Mexico they already knew all that stuff, long before the Spanish came.

The earth is hollow is indeed much harder to prove....I'll have to think about that.

I mean there would have to be a super dense layer in there somewhere....how dense is normal dense stuff anyway?

Magnetic field. Harder with a hollow earth.
Also gravity. It depends on the mass.

errol if it was spinning fast enough it might pancake outwards...you would probably be expecting something more spinning top shapes than cylindrical disk shaped - but doable?

And how would it form?