For centuries, people have been arguing about the shape of our planet (some are still arguing), so let's figure it out and answer the main questions. When and where did it come from? Flat planet physics? Who are the most famous "flat earthers"? So round or flat? You will find out the answers to these and other questions and try to understand the global conspiracy. Or not?

In 2003, researchers conducted a study and found that the state of Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. Naturally the Earth is not flat, the Earth is round. After all, otherwise travelers would always break off its edge. It is so? Not! If the Earth were not a sphere, but a flat disk, like a plate, then with a suitable density and thickness, life in its center would feel quite normal. But as you approach the edge, gravity on the disk-shaped Earth would gradually distort, pushing the body towards the center at a larger and larger angle. Houses would have to be built at a certain angle, so that the bottom always seemed to be at the right angle to the floor, the way we feel it on our round Earth. And if a person goes from the center to the edge, then as he approaches the edge, it will become more terrible. Remember, this is a flat earth, but it will feel like a perpendicular slope, so instead of being afraid of falling off a cliff, on a flat earth, gravity is more of a risk of falling off the cliff and rolling back towards the center. Thus, when a person goes over the edge, instead of falling into space, he can stand calmly, since there will be a flat place. This all of course ignores the fact that such a shape of the planet is impossible. Something as massive as the Earth and shaped like a flat disk will naturally turn into a ball under its own gravity. That is why in open space anything over a few hundred kilometers in diameter is round.

But what if, in fact, gravity does not exist, the Earth looks like a plate, and science was wrong? Since the time of the ancient Greeks, almost all scientists and Western religions have recognized the roundness of our planet. The Greeks just noticed that the ships disappear over the horizon from the bottom, and if you move, then to the North, then to the South, the stars either appear or disappear from view. The misconception that just a few centuries ago, a bunch of people believed the Earth was flat, most likely arose in the modern era as some kind of insult. An accusation like, "Hey, your people recently thought the earth was flat, so why should we believe you now?" published so often that it became a kind of historical fact! This has led to the word "flat earth" becoming synonymous with the word "anti-science". The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn, was designed with the Earth round in mind. Its two towers, separated from each other by one kilometer and three hundred meters, are perfectly vertical, but nevertheless, they are 41 millimeters further apart at the tops than at the bases, due to the curvature of the Earth's surface.

In the third century BC, Eratosthenes measured the difference between the shadows cast by poles in different places, in order to calculate the circumference of the entire spherical Earth with amazing accuracy for that time (all this happened more than 2000 years before rockets and flights into space). But in 1906, Wilbur Glenn Voliva led a slightly strange religious sect in power in the city of Zion (Illinois). They all believed that the earth was actually flat, and this doctrine was taught in the schools of Zion. Everyone who entered the city had to adhere to this opinion. Wilbur also believed that the Sun was only 50 kilometers in diameter and only a few thousand kilometers from Earth, not 150 million. Is he crazy? Or not? You see, the same phenomenon that Eratosthenes proposed earlier could support the flat earth theory if the sun were a few hundred kilometers away and 50 kilometers in diameter.

In modern times, with the help of the Internet, modern flat earthers have picked up where Voliva left off. They have good counterarguments to the evidence they have provided that the earth is round. Round-the-world travel is really just a circular path on a plane. The circular shadow cast by the earth on the moon during lunar eclipse, can also be discarded by a flat disk. Time zones are explained by partial solar illumination, and remember how different gravity would be on a flat planet? So, they claim that gravity as we know it simply does not exist. The flat disk of the Earth simply rises upwards with an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second. They also believe that all the photo and video materials confirming the roundness of the Earth are fabricated by the Big Ball society: space agencies, airlines, globe manufacturers! Is it just a coincidence that the logo of the Flat Earth Society is also used by the UN? While the flat earth theories are clever, their explanations are mostly ill-conceived.

A particle of cosmic radiation can use the same scientific methods and come to the conclusion that the earth is in fact flat. The fact is that at speeds close to the speed of light, time slows down, and the length is reduced. If it were a proton traveling at 99.9999999999991% of the speed of light, the Earth would appear to be only 17 meters thick in the direction of travel. It is spherical for some observers and flat for others. Therefore, there cannot be a correct answer for all circumstances.

Susan Hack compares knowledge to a crossword puzzle. New answers intertwine with old ones, reinforcing each other. The way the answers fit into the predetermined grid is our confidence that we are on the right track. This does not mean that one day all the answers will be filled in and the crossword puzzle will be finished. For example, the well-known crossword puzzle from the New York Times in 1996, released the day before the US presidential election, between Bill Clinton and Bob Dol. The clue to 39 was just crazy, as it required knowing the future in order to answer the question correctly. It read: "The main news of tomorrow's newspaper: elected." That gap could be either Clinton or Bob Dole. And how could you tell which of them until tomorrow? It was impossible! But as it turned out, both "Clinton" and "Bob Dol" were the answer, because it didn't matter what you wrote, because everything else fits. For example, "Black animal on Halloween" can be both a cat (cat) and a bat (bat). Our knowledge of the world around us may be the same. A puzzle with no ready-made answers, just the certainty that the answers we think we know fit together so that they are possibly correct. Although it remains possible that the answer to one of the questions, or to all of them, will have only one accurate and appropriate answer. Perhaps this puzzle is eternal. Richard Feynman said about it:

If a normal person, accustomed to living in the modern news paradigm, is seriously told that space does not exist, the planet Earth is flat, and the sun is actually much smaller than we used to think, most likely, this citizen will twist his finger at his temple. Especially if the speaker supplements his conclusions with the opinion that NASA is financed by a secret Masonic organization, and no one has ever landed on the Moon.

The statements seem absolutely crazy, and it is all the more surprising that all these theories have many supporters around the world. These people are convinced of the correctness of the flat earth theory: for them, this is an indisputable truth, and not anti-scientific fabrications of ignoramuses.

Adherents of the theory set up experiments, publish research papers, citing evidence that humanity does not live on a rotating ball flying at great speed (30 km / s) in space. According to these people, the earth is a flat disk covered with a transparent dome.

Despite the seeming madness of this theory, it continues to excite the minds. Flat Earth theorists can immediately ask the following questions: why does not water from the oceans overflow from the “disk” where the Sun hides at night, where did tens of thousands of photographs of a spherical planet come from? We have dedicated this article to answering these and other questions.

History of the flat earth theory

School education provides a clear guide: - this is a fairy tale invented by our ancestors, who did not have the opportunity to conduct a serious scientific work. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese agreed that the Earth was flat. In absentia, the Sumerians and Scandinavians “agreed” with them. In mythological cosmogenesis, the ancient Vedas and the Bible, our planet is unequivocally called flat. The same can be said about Buddhist and Hindu practices.

If we talk about an earlier time in relation to us, then there were enough theorists of a flat Earth in the Middle Ages. A categorical breakdown came during the Renaissance, and in our time everyone knows that our planet is round. The scientific research of our ancient ancestors has been ostracized and relegated to the margins of history.

But this does not mean at all that everyone agrees with the ideological dictate modern science. There were people who did not believe the textbooks and in all seriousness began to study the ancient treatises.

In the 19th century in England, the British scientist and inventor S. Rowbotham organized the Flat Earth Society. Rowbotham spent hundreds scientific research, which proved, in his opinion, that the Earth is flat.

Hiding under the false name "Parallax", Rowbotham published a pamphlet "Zethetic Astronomy", which contained descriptions of his experiments and stated evidence for the impossibility of the existence of a spherical earth. Samuel claimed that the planet is flat and the ocean is perfectly level.

The pamphlet went through many editions during Rowbotham's lifetime, and each time it got thicker as Parallax added more and more chapters to it. The number of supporters of the flat earth theory also grew rapidly.

Samuel Rowbotham was not devoid of marketing talent, he always took money for lectures. The researcher was so confident in his theory that he could lash out with his fists at those who expressed doubts about his conclusions.

Very soon adherents of the flat earth theory appeared all over the world. There were especially many of them in Europe and the United States. Among the followers of this direction there are quite unexpected personalities, for example, Adolf Hitler.

Surprisingly, the number of followers of the flat earth theory is growing every year. In some countries, this idea even caused a kind of social split. Adherents of the Earth-disk theory categorically reject the arguments of modern scientists and present their own evidence, which seems to them to be the only true one.

To understand how serious the dispute with the supporters of the flat Earth is, it is enough to open the Yandex search engine. At the very first request, an abyss of articles, photographs, videos, forums and heated debates dedicated to Rowbotham's theory will open before you.

Before starting to get acquainted with the most popular proofs of the flat earthers, let's study their key postulates.

Proponents of Parallax think of the Earth as a disk with the North Pole at the center. The diameter of the planet coincides with official scientific data - 40 thousand km. The disk is covered with a dome, behind which the Sun and the Moon are visible. Thanks to these heavenly bodies there is day and night on the planet. Gravity is something fundamentally different than the phenomenon that modern science studies.

According to Rowbotham and his followers, the South Pole does not exist in principle. No Antarctica either. The entire circumference of the earth's disk is surrounded by a wall of ice.

Photographs from space are declared a clever photoshop, a fake. In general, astronautics is a complete deception and scam. Rockets, devices for transporting and lifting ships - skillfully executed props. space travel and video from the ISS are filmed on Earth by professional filmmakers.

The sphericity of the planet was declared by supporters of Rowbotham to be a lie spread by conspiring Masons. Scientists, NASA specialists and astronauts know the truth, but they receive money from the Masons and therefore are silent.

flat earth

What is the solar system?

The idea of ​​the flat earth adherents about the structure of the solar system is also interesting. At school, they teach that several planets revolve around the star, the Earth occupies the third orbit from the Sun, located between Venus and Mars. Is it possible that such a system exists? The followers of Rowbotham answer unequivocally: no.

In their opinion, a model with a fixed Sun is impossible, if only because there is constant movement in the Universe. If the generally accepted version of the solar system were correct, the sun would fly through space at an incredible speed, dragging the planets with it. Oval orbits of the planets in this case would be impossible, only spiral ones.

Another interesting argument concerns the forces of repulsion and attraction, thanks to which a balance is achieved in the solar system: the planets do not fly away from the star and do not collide in space. Supporters of the flat earth theory point out that the mass of all planets is different. If solar system was such as described in the textbooks, large planets would be located closer to the sun, and small planets would be farther from the star. After all, an object of smaller mass simply does not have enough repulsive force to “escape” from the sun. Rowbotham's followers calculated that, in the paradigm adopted by official science, the Earth would be in the sixth orbit. This determines its mass. Such a distance from the Sun would make life on the planet impossible: eternal cold would reign here.

Evidence base

Of course, the most interesting thing about the flat earth theory is the evidence collected by Parallax supporters. With a planet diameter of 40 thousand km, the planet makes a revolution in 24 hours. These data allow you to calculate the rotation speed: more than 400 m / s. That is, according to official science, the Earth rotates at a speed of 0.5 km / s.

Adherents of Rowbotham are wondering: under such conditions, how can planes land exactly on the runway? The earth is round and constantly spinning! According to the proponents of the theory, the runway will shift due to the rotation of the planet, and the plane will not be able to land.

Another proof: if we agree that the Earth is spherical, the cannonball that has flown out of the muzzle of the cannon in the direction from West to East will be in the air 2 times less than it actually is. If, however, a cannon is fired from East to West, the cannonball will fly twice as far due to the rotation of the Earth in the opposite direction.

However, neither the first nor the second phenomenon is observed, which, according to the adherents of Rowbotham, exposes the generally accepted view that the Earth is a spherical rotating body.

Proponents of the theory also point out: if you shoot up, the flight of the core will continue for a certain time, during which the location of the gun will shift relative to the projectile by 5-6 kilometers, but this is not observed.

These simple conclusions evoke a sense of triumph among Rowbotham's supporters. Traditional science answers: do not forget about the atmospheric column, which rotates with the planet and "drags" everything that got into it. Adherents of the earth-disk put forward a counterargument that is striking in its boldness: in their opinion, atmospheric pressure simply does not exist.

The official film about the real shape of the Earth from Terra Convexa

At the end of the film, mainstream science experts sum up the experiments and give an authoritative opinion on the tests carried out.

Terra Convexa provides answers to many questions.

Criticism of the atmospheric pressure theory

The inventor of the mercury barometer, E. Torricelli, suggested that the entire atmosphere of the Earth evenly and constantly presses on the planet. The Italian proved his idea in experiments with water and mercury. Torricelli refuted Aristotle's postulate that there is no absolute emptiness (vacuum) in the Universe. An Italian scientist created a vacuum in which there was no Atmosphere pressure.

Torricelli's experiment worked great with mercury and alcohol, but the trick didn't work with water: the Italian never managed to create a water barometer. Modern science has proven that barometers on water are possible, but their size will be much larger than those of mercury or alcohol. You can read more about Torricelli's experiments in his own writings. For example, there you can find out where the scientist took a bucket of mercury - a radioactive liquid metal.

The flat-earthers could not but pay attention to Torricelli's experiments and try to expose them. In their opinion, a false vacuum formed in the test tubes of the Italian. In fact, the space was filled with mercury vapor. On this basis, Rowbotham's supporters concluded that atmospheric pressure is a myth, as is gravity. The huge space located above the planet remains motionless. Adepts of the Earth-disk point to free-flying birds, to clouds that “travel” across the sky at the behest of the wind. The pilot of a helicopter hovering above the ground, according to the logic of a spherical rotating planet, must see a gradually changing landscape below him. But this is not observed.

Why does a stone, thrown hard into the air, land in almost the same place, and not many meters from the person who made the throw? Parallax adherents give an unequivocal answer - this is because the earth is a flat immovable surface.

Horizon and curvature of the earth

The first experiments on the curvature of the earth began to Rowbotham, his modern followers conduct hundreds of such studies. If our planet is a ball, then, given the curvature of the surface, the horizon line should be a solid line beyond which nothing is visible. However, in practice, mountains, giant sculptures or Egyptian pyramids perfectly visible on the horizon line.

The Needles lighthouse in the British county of Hampshire (height - 54 meters) can be seen from a distance of 60 km, with a curvature of the earth of 282 m. If the Earth is a ball, the lighthouse should be 282 m below the horizon. The situation is similar with ocean-going ships. Gradually moving away from the coast, the ships disappear behind the horizon line. This would seem to confirm that the surface of the planet is curved. However, the supporters of the flat-earth theory armed themselves with high-end optical instruments - and saw the ships that supposedly "disappear" over the horizon...

With the naked eye, a person cannot see a ship that has retired at such a considerable distance, in addition, vision is limited to a scattering perspective. With good optics, the horizon line disappears, and the stronger the optics, the greater distance can take a look.

Thus, according to flat earthers, there is no horizon line. Pictures from the International space station- fake, since the sky is a dome. When flying in an airplane, a person sees the rounding of the earth - but this is just an illusion. Even the emblem of the United Nations seems to the adherents of Rowbotham to be a model of the earth-disk.

Round and flat Earth at the same time: video

Watch the video online about the round flat earth

Moon landing: NASA hoax

Members of the Flat Earth Society pay special attention to the history of the landing of Americans on the moon. Of course, they are sure and furiously prove that man has never set foot on the only satellite of our planet. Rowbotham's supporters point to a photograph of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that is widely believed to have once brought earthlings to the moon.

With a strong increase in the photograph, it can be seen that the lunar shuttle is made of materials sold in a hardware store: plastic and cardboard shields, foil and polyethylene. Of course, it is impossible to fly anywhere on an apparatus built from such materials.

Supporters of the theory of a flat Earth carefully studied the photographs of astronauts, finding rings with Masonic signs on their hands. For the adherents of Parallax, Masons are the main world conspirators who have penetrated all international structures and governments of all states of the world.

Where do photographs of Mars come from?

A similar situation with photographs of Mars. For followers of the theory, photographs of the Red Planet are a skillful fake, photoshopped. Photographers hired by the conspirators take pictures of the deserts and mountainous terrain on Earth, then, after processing the pictures, pass them off as photos from Mars.

Photos of the lifeless Martian desert, covered with stones, flew around the world. If we carry out a reverse “filtering” of these images in Photoshop, we will get an ordinary terrestrial landscape with blue sky. There are many such places on earth.

Strange air travel

Many aircraft routes seem extremely illogical. For example, the Sydney-Santiago flight, it would seem, is much more convenient to make through New Zealand. It will be a direct and easy route with one refueling.

In reality, the plane from Australia to latin america flies through Mexico and the USA. If we consider the Earth to be spherical, this looks extremely strange: the plane makes a big detour, consuming fuel and increasing the distance. If the same route is drawn on a flat earth map, it becomes clear that the air carrier has chosen the most reliable and direct route.

Adherents of Rowbotham propose to check in this way any air route that seems illogical and strange. When transferred to flat earth, the trajectory begins to look quite adequate.

Video: how do planes fly over a rotating earth?

Why do all planes fly on maps of a flat earth, and not a spherical one?

The picture of the universe

To better understand the logic of the supporters of the flat earth theory, you need to know what they think about the universe - the Moon, the Sun, the stars. In general, they adhere to the same statements that Rowbotham used two centuries ago. The only thing is that they constantly have to “fend off” new scientific discoveries.

For example, lunar photographs have been claimed to have been taken on Earth. Followers of the theory regularly conduct research expeditions, the main purpose of which is to search for territories where "false" images were taken from space.

In the summer of 2015, the Society published photographs from the Icelandic expedition, which depicted landscapes that were like two drops of water similar to photographs presented by the Americans as lunar. Earlier, journalists invited the astronauts of the first Apollo expedition to put their hands on the Bible and say: “I swear that I was on the moon.” All the astronauts refused. A video of the flat earth experiment can be found on the global web. One astronaut began to rudely swear at the journalist, another tried to laugh it off, and the third simply sent the TV man.

The Flat Earth Society analyzed all the data of alternative researchers, superimposed them on their own theory and came to a stunning conclusion: it turned out that the Moon is not a satellite of our planet at all. The moon does not exist at all.

But what then do we see in the sky? According to Parallax adherents, this is a constantly updated hologram. They control the hologram from the Earth.

But what do Rowbotham's followers think of the stars? People began to study astrology many centuries ago, this science is one of the first in the world. The same Ursa Major was discovered by people several millennia ago.

How can it be, ask the flat earthers, that during this time the constellations have not undergone any changes? After all celestial bodies, including stars and galaxies are moving in the universe with tremendous speed. The earth rotates around its own axis, flies around the sun in its orbit, but people in different countries do they always see the same “set” of stars above them? Why is that? Why did the stars freeze above the rotating and rushing in space Earth, like soldiers on guard? Members of the Society consider this situation absurd.

For this reason, supporters plane theory announced the stars as holograms. They don't exist either.

The sun

If the Moon and stars are holograms, then what about the Sun? Does the world star really not exist? But what then warms the planet, brings life to all its inhabitants?

Flat earthers claim that there are actually seventeen suns. All of them hover over different regions of the planet, shine and warm with different intensity. The pamphlets of the Society list the features of different suns: Californian, Russian, Chinese, etc.

Any scientist would call these statements sheer nonsense. However, the explanations of the adherents of Rowbotham are by no means devoid of a certain logic. The color of the Sun we observe varies from pale yellow to bright red and burgundy, depending on natural conditions or time of day. According to the prevailing scientific concepts, the sky is seen by a person as blue or blue because the sun's rays, overcoming the atmosphere of the planet, are broken into the corresponding spectra.

But why, then, do we see a yellow sun? If we observe the luminary through the prism of the atmosphere, then it should be blue. Followers of the flat-earth theory give an unequivocal answer: the fact is that the Sun is located not at all above the atmosphere, but below it.

As a result, the Society draws the following picture of the universe: the Earth-disk is covered with a dome, under which there are artificially made holograms - the Moon, stars and the Sun. Those wishing to learn more about the ideas of Parallax adherents can find a lot of videos and articles on the Internet.

The closer to the light source, the warmer

The nature of delusions is based on the inability of people to give answers to the simplest questions. At the same time, we love to give a lot of pseudo-scientific evidence for the craziest theories.

For example, try answering the following question: it is obvious to everyone that the closer an object is to a source of light and heat, the hotter it is. Try touching a light bulb or getting close to a fire - does it get hotter? Certainly!

But why then, climbing up on hot-air balloon, we find ourselves in a zone of hard cold. And the higher we go, the lower the temperature becomes.

When answering this question, most will talk about the layers of the atmosphere that have different temperature characteristics. All of this evidence comes from books and has not been tested in practice.

Let's dwell on the obvious - the closer a person is to a heat source, the warmer he is. This should be relevant for the Sun as well. The closer to the sun, the higher the temperature. However, this is not observed in practice. Followers of the flat earth theory conclude that the Sun is not a source of heat, since in space in this case it would be much hotter than on our planet.

Counterarguments of official science

straight horizon

People only think that they see a straight line of the horizon. Already from an airplane or from the roof of a skyscraper, one can notice the curvature of the earth's surface.

Fake photos from space. NASA conspiracy

In the flat earth paradigm, NASA is almost a criminal organization. One gets the feeling that the American space agency is headed by Professor Moriarty, and all of his employees are Masons-conspirators who hide the truth from people because of the desire for personal enrichment.

However, there is not only NASA in the world. Russia has its own space agency, Roskosmos, which broadcasts from the ISS and launches manned vehicles into space. Russian cosmonauts, like their American counterparts, confirm that the Earth is a sphere. Is it possible that Freemasons also “rule” Roskosmos?

There is no gravity

Another popular statement of the Flat Earth Society is that there is no gravity and the planet is constantly moving upwards. If this statement is true and the Earth does not attract anything, then how can birds and planes fly?

The sun is located 5 thousand kilometers from the surface of the Earth, its diameter is 51 km

Why, in this case, the seasons change on the planet, the day follows the night, there are climatic zones. If the Sun were positioned in the manner described by the adepts of Parallax, the entire surface of the Earth would have the same temperature.

How do planes land on a round and rotating Earth?

Planes "rotate" in the atmospheric column along with the Earth.

Atmospheric pressure is a myth

Those who say this should go to the mountains and experience the effect of atmospheric pressure on their own experience.

Flat Earth Books

The idea of ​​the Earth-disk is very stable and has been very popular for two centuries now. Various authors and researchers drew attention to this theory, presented evidence of the correctness of the teachings of Parallax in their books.

One of the most popular books of this kind is The Most Ancient Cosmology by W. Warren. This great work tells about the cosmogonic ideas of the Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, ancient Chinese, Buddhists. Readers will learn how our ancestors imagined the universe. The book contains many interesting illustrations.

"Earth is not a ball: 100 proofs" by M. Carpenter. The book contains the most convincing, from the point of view of the author, proof of the correctness of the theory of a flat Earth.

"The Earth is not a ball" S. Rowbotham. A book by the founder of the Earth-Disk Society. Rowbotham did a great job of confirming his theses.

In ancient times, the theory of a flat Earth was widespread and people had no other versions. It was believed that it was held by three elephants standing on a turtle. After a while, science was able to prove the falsity of these ideas, but there were people who believe that the planet does not have a spherical shape.

The flat earth theory today

There are ideas that the planet is actually a disk, in the center of which is North Pole. The diameter of the Earth is a little more than 40 thousand km. Around such a disk there is a transparent dome, over which the Sun and the Moon rotate, like spotlights. According to adherents of the theory of the flat Earth, Antarctica does not exist and on south pole is the edge of the planet, which is surrounded by an ice wall.

There is a whole community and it includes people who believe in a worldwide deception. Answering the question of whether it is true that the Earth is flat, they claim that all pictures from space are editing and photoshop abilities. Adherents of this opinion believe in a conspiracy sponsored by the Masons, aimed at hiding the real truth from all mankind on the planet. This debate has been going on for hundreds of years.

flat earth sign

Every society has its own emblem, and the flat earthers are no exception. They think the UN flag is perfect for bringing them together: on a blue background is a round image of a map of the world, with the North Pole in the center. The flat earth emblem is surrounded by two olive branches, which still during Ancient Greece symbolized peace.

What is beyond the edge of the flat earth?

People, hearing about an unusual theory, begin to ask a lot of questions to understand whether it is true or not. Many are interested in, if the Earth is flat, then where is its edge, and what is beyond it. Society gives two answers to this:

1. Some members are sure that the region is beyond Antarctica and is limited by a huge ice wall. It is worth noting that it is not specified what is behind it, whether there is space and other planets. As evidence, the Flat Earth Society offers to read the Antarctic Treaty, which prohibits the free exploration of these places, which is very suspicious.
2. Other members of society believe that not only is the Earth actually flat, but it also has no edge, that is, people live on an endless plain. There is a certain zone beyond which a person cannot go, and this is most likely due to the environment.

Who needs a flat earth myth?

Many have asked this question, as attempts to compromise science arise from time to time in the world. Most likely, people would not pay attention to such statements, if not extensive propaganda. Finding out who benefits from the theory of a flat Earth, it is worth noting that as a result of scientific and technical progress, people begin to think differently and it becomes increasingly difficult for the authorities to control them. It is important to point out that this does not concern the rulers of states, but the level of power and ideas.

Why do people believe the earth is flat?

You can think about this topic for a long time and there will be great amount opinions. Scientists and great minds believe that modern people who believe that the planet Earth is flat, like to go against the current, looking for a catch and opposition in every statement. Many are sure that there is a certain group of people, the so-called "Masons", who control everything, and they can promote any idea into the world, including that the earth is round. All this raises doubts in modern society.

How to join a flat earth society?

The English inventor Samuel Rowbotham in the 19th century created a whole community for adherents of the theory of a flat earth. Every person can become a member. To do this, you must pay an entry fee of $10. The society will then send out its own newsletter on a regular basis. There are several main provisions of this organization:

1. The center of the Earth is located at the North Pole, and the edges are in the south.
2. The Flat Earth Society claims that everyone existing evidence the sphericity of the planet, including the flights of astronauts, is just an international conspiracy of America and Russia to deceive people.
3. They believe that the stars are stuck to the firmament, which is located on high, equal to the distance from San Francisco to Boston.
4. The Moon and the Sun are not huge, and the Earth's satellite shines with its own light, and not reflected. Eclipses are caused by an obstruction by some dark object.
5. The Flat Earth Society claims that all great people were adherents of their theory, but simply covered it up.
6. It is believed that the belief in sphericity is a false religion.

Flat Earth Theory - Real Facts

Before putting forward the theory that the earth does not have a spherical shape, its adherents did a lot of research, examined a huge amount of photo and video material in order to have something to operate on. The main facts why the Earth is flat include the following information:

1. Knowing the time of rotation of the planet around its axis and its diameter, you can easily calculate the speed of its rotation. As a result, it turns out that in a second the Earth rotates at a speed of about 0.5 km / s. Wouldn't a person notice such changes?
2. Air travel is one of the most common proofs. The theory of a flat Earth raises such doubts - how can an airplane land on a specified place if it is displaced due to the movement of the planet? In addition, due to the constant rotation of the earth, the planes would not be able to reach their destination due to the headwind.
3. If you throw an object up, then it will take several seconds for it to fly and fall, so if the Earth were round and rotated, then it would not fall in the same place where it was thrown.
4. If the planet had the shape of a sphere, then the horizon would be curved, but in any conditions and when observing vast spaces, the line is always straight.

What do psychics say about a flat earth?

To determine where is the truth and where is the lie, it is worth considering different opinions, therefore, psychics, who, in their opinion, know all the secrets, cannot be dispensed with. The version that the Earth is flat, for people working with energies, is a fiction created in order to arouse doubts in people and gather them into a certain sect. Psychics who receive energy, including from the Earth, are sure that it is round, if this was a myth, then the energy flows would be scattered and not so powerful.

Flat Earth in the Bible

People who read the Bible can be divided into two groups, as some believe that it says that the earth is flat, while others assure that this is nothing more than a common misconception. Though there is much in this holy book scientific facts, information about which was not available at the time of writing the book, specifically about the flat earth, it does not say. Those who believe that the Bible says that the Earth is flat, cite the word from it - "hug" as an argument, but in Hebrew it means both "circle" and "ball".

Another refuting fact concerns the fact that the holy book states that the Earth has no point of support, and this is one of the ideas of people who invented the legend of a flat planet. The Bible does not focus on the shape of the Earth, so it is not advisable to take this as truth. In addition, even in modern language, the word "round Earth" is used, and not spherical or spherical. The language of the Bible is not sharpened by geometric concepts.

Flat earth in the Quran

As for the main Muslim book, it uses more words that can be considered confirmation that the Earth is flat. The text contains such words and expressions related to our planet: “spread”, “made the earth a plain”, “made the earth a carpet for you”, and so on. The flat earth in Islam is confirmed by theologians, and the sky, according to them, rests on several pillars.

Flat Earth Movies

There are no films based on the theme of the flat Earth, but there are a number of films that mention this.

1. "The Truman Show". The hero of the picture one day begins to understand that everything around is a deception and scenery. He is the hero of a TV show that has been running for over 30 years.
2. "Men in Black". The film tells about a secret unofficial agency that controls the operation of UFOs. The main characters in one of the dialogues are talking about a flat earth.
3. "Dark City". The main idea of ​​this picture is that all people live in a world run by the elect, forcing them to believe in non-existent things.

Flat earth books

Literature has not disregarded the topic concerning the shape of our planet. Many authors have been doing research for years and have presented their own reasoning and evidence in their works.

1. "Ancient Cosmologies" W. Warren. The book is voluminous and in it you can find information about the ideas regarding the structure of the Universe, Buddhists, Egyptians and other peoples. This edition contains many illustrations.
2. "A hundred proofs that the Earth is not a sphere" M. Carpenter. The published work was inaccessible to the general reader for a long time. The author presented, in his opinion, objective evidence of a flat Earth.
3. "Research Astronomy: The Earth is not a ball" S. Rowbotham. If you are interested in whether the earth is flat or round, then you should read this book, which describes experiments and has visual illustrations confirming that the planet is flat.

The earth is flat and motionless: the simplest evidence

Friends, I am writing this mainly for newcomers to the site who came because they are interested in the topic of the Flat Earth, but who do not yet know where to start. Therefore, I will very briefly describe two and a half arguments in favor of why 1) the Earth cannot but be flat and why 2) it is motionless. They, I hope, will help you talk with friends and relatives, if the opinion of the latter is not indifferent to you, and they only laugh at you and offer to go back to school ...

First, you don't have to prove anything to anyone. It's useless. You can only ask questions so that the interlocutor himself tries to answer them and, as a result of the search for truth, comes to his own understanding of what is happening. Second, the questions should be obvious and simple.

To prove the earth's plane (in English it is Flat Earth, and, for example, in Latin, Plana Terra, in which, you see, it sounds very convex ... a planetarium) a simple mechanical device called a gyroscope is used. To this day, they are equipped with ALL aircraft, ships and submarines. When aircraft or ships are preparing to take off or depart, they always need 10-15 minutes to accelerate this very gyroscope (equipped with an electric drive, although everything else is pure mechanics). A picture of a typical gyroscope is below. The essence of the work is elementary: as soon as the central disk (rotor) spins up to a certain speed around its axis (rotor axis), it can no longer be moved from this angle. In other words, if you spin the disk in its original position parallel to the ground (which is what ships with airplanes do), it will always be in this position parallel to the ground - until it stops. At the same time, you can take it by the leg and tilt it in any direction - the rotating rotor will always remain parallel to the ground, and its axis will always be perpendicular. Actually, in aviation and navigation, this property is necessary, since the instruments monitor precisely this deviation and thus show a change in the position of the vessel relative to the horizon. Aircraft pilots see that during takeoff and landing, for obvious reasons, an angle is formed between the rotor parallel to the ground and the ground, which they call “roll”.

And now about what pilots never see.

If you board a plane in Moscow and fly to Tokyo, you fly 7,500 kilometers. With the circumference of the earth's "globe" of 40,000 kilometers (although, I remember, in the 1970s we were told something like 30-35 in textbooks, but that's not the point), 7500 is, excuse me, a fifth of the circle. Take a ball, take a gyroscope, spin the gyroscope at the “north pole” of the ball and start circling the ball around the office for a fifth of it, i.e. almost to the equator. "Airplane", i.e. the leg of the gyroscope, which you, of course, will constantly keep perpendicular to the surface of the ball, will deviate by almost 90 degrees. And the rotor? And he was originally parallel highest point ball, and remained. With a ball, this is obvious. But the gyroscope, which swirled parallel to the surface of the earth in Moscow after 7500 km in Tokyo, remained in exactly the same position. On a ball, as you can see for yourself by checking or imagining the experiment described above, this is physically impossible.

There is only one argument of the “koloboks” about this: probably, the attraction of the earth, gravity, affects the rotor of the gyroscope. Great, of course, but then why does gravity “turn off” exactly at the moment of takeoffs and landings of planes? Well, you get the idea...

The stillness of the earth can also be ascertained by means of a gyroscope, and such experiments can be done by anyone. You buy a gyroscope with a drive, put it on the table, put a sheet of paper on it, draw a line on the paper along which you orient one of the gyroscope frames and wait an hour, two, three, six, leaving the gyroscope on. If the Earth is spinning (which seems to prove the Foucault pendulum, although it proves exactly the opposite, if it proves anything at all, but this is a separate topic), then you should see how the line on paper and the line of the frame begin to diverge over time. However, for some reason, this does not happen, no matter how long you wait and no matter how many gyroscopes, tables, papers and pencils you change.

The second proof of the immobility of the Earth is the plane already mentioned above. This moment "koloboks" does not cut through at all, but in vain. This is the third bold point on their theory of a spherical spinning Earth. I'll start a little further. "Koloboks" like to remember the name of Coriolis in connection with the rotation of water in the toilet. Like, in the northern hemisphere it spins clockwise, and in the southern hemisphere - against. Let's also leave this delusion on their conscience, and continue to remember the venerable Frenchman, in whose honor there is the concept of "Coriolis force", defined as follows: when a body moves relative to a rotating frame of reference, in addition to centripetal and centrifugal forces, another force appears, called the Coriolis force or Coriolis force of inertia. Type this name on the Internet and read more if you are interested. And on the fingers, the essence of this “power” looks like this: take a large dish or a round tray, place a ball in the center, tilt the dish and mark the point on the edge where it will roll. Repeat this most difficult experiment, only this time, while the ball rolls to the edge, rotate the dish in one direction. I am sure that from experience you already know the answer: the ball will roll to the right or left of the initial point at a distance depending on the speed with which you just twisted this dish.

So, when the plane takes off from the ground, this same rule of body motion in a rotating system begins to act on it. I emphasize, not in moving, but in rotating. And I emphasize because the "koloboks" do not understand the difference and give incorrect examples of throwing objects in fast moving trains and cars, when an object takes off above your palm and falls back. They forget that both the train and the car travel in a straight line and on a plane. Let them throw something just as accurately on a roller coaster, say, melted ice cream ...

The earth, we are told, rotates at the equator at the speed of two passenger planes, i.e. 1675 km / h. Thanks to this rotation, it is believed (and everyone knows about it who was interested in or is engaged in "cosmonautics", even in Baumanka, even in Roskosmos) that rockets should be launched strictly in the direction of the Earth's rotation, because if you do it in the opposite direction, then the Earth's speed and the missiles are subtracted, and the latter will not be able to accelerate to the desired one and will crash. This "knowledge" I am citing here solely as an example of cognitive dissonance, and we will remember the speed figure of 1675 and move on. So, this means that at the latitude of Moscow it should be, albeit half as much, but still it is about 800 km / h, and the plane flies from Moscow to Japan at a speed of 900. The question is: when will the plane fly faster to Japan - when chasing Tokyo, overtaking it at a speed of 100 km / h (900 - 800 \u003d 100), or when flying towards it through Europe and America, i.e. exactly in the opposite direction with a total speed of 1700 km/h (900 + 800 = 1700)? Maybe it flies precisely after the rotation of the Earth because it is easier for pilots to land on the runway, dropping speed from 900 km/h to 800 km/h? Don't know. I haven’t heard anything about such maneuvers, although I overcame this one even twice already.

Summing up, let me remind you: if you say that rockets are launched in the direction of the earth's rotation and in no case vice versa, you will be taken to Baumanka and Roskosmos, but if you say that a plane from Moscow has to keep up with Tokyo, they will laugh at you and call you in at best "humanist" ...

If you have read my message up to this point and still doubt the original postulates - flat and motionless - you can linger and read something else. If my simple explanations annoy you, I think this is the time for us to say goodbye.

tagPlaceholder Tags: flat earth, flat earth, motionless earth

• #1

  To write such nonsense, you must first know the elementary laws of physics, well, and a little optics will not hurt.

• #2

  And yet she turns!

• #3

  If ha ha the Earth were round ha ha, rivers and seas would flow from it!

• #4

  For example, I accidentally sailed from west to east))))

• #5

  Guys, here are more recent proofs https://vk.cc/97HSWo 2019

• #6

  Yes, even take a Google map and measure it, you will be surprised, for example: by eye, the determinant is the width of Africa, that it fits into the width of Russia a little more than 2 times. Now take a Google ruler online and measure these distances of Africa and Russia, something doesn’t converge right? It follows that once someone pulled a flat map onto a globe, and the Google map was already made from a perverted globe map. The earth is a geoid and is flat.
  

• #7

  It can be seen that a person who is completely ignorant of gyroscopes is trying to say something on their basis. After all, if he understood a little, he would understand that the earth is also a gyroscope. And Coriolis forces act on any body on earth. Naturally, with a flat earth, the forces will be different. Therefore, it is possible to experimentally determine whether the earth is flat or not by the flight of projectiles, etc.

  "The essence of the work is elementary" - well, for those who do not understand his work, it is of course elementary.
  "It can no longer be moved from this corner." Can the author explain why? Can not. Because not to understand the essence of the work of the gyroscope.
  In general, when a force is applied, it can be shifted by a small angle (this will be nutation) and plus there will be movement in a perpendicular direction (precession). But okay, forgive the author, he missed more significant effects.

  "But the gyroscope, which swirled parallel to the surface of the earth in Moscow after 7500 km in Tokyo, remained in exactly the same position" - of course not! It would deviate by 90 degrees if there were no correction in the navigation system.
  "However, for some reason this does not happen" - a good gyroscope is precisely what rotates 15 degrees per hour at the pole and 12 degrees per hour at the latitude of Moscow. The one that does not rotate is too low-precision, too subject to friction forces, etc. It is not suitable for navigation.

  "and the plane flies from Moscow to Japan at a speed of 900" - this RELATIVE speed. Even the dog knows it. Therefore, 900 is the same in one direction, which is the same in the other.

  "it's true that by experience you already know the answer: the ball will roll to the right or left of the original point at a distance depending on the speed with which you just twisted this dish." - in the same way rejects planes, shells. etc. And in the southern hemisphere suddenly a deviation in the other direction than in the northern.
  

• #8

  Balloons, don't pretend you're either bought or blind. And I see a lot of you freaks. It will pass.

• #9

  With a pendulum on the head!

For recent decades against the background of the crisis in science, and in physics, first of all, there appeared both proposals for a way out of the crisis (Atsyukovsky V.A. http://www.atsuk.dart.ru/ constructive ideas (see, for example, Rybnikov Yu.S. and others). In historical science, everyone knows the "scientific" works of Fomenko A.T. and Nosovsky G.V. (http://www.chronologia.org/) according to the new chronology, which were rebuffed (http://hbar.phys.msu.ru/gorm/library/book2.htm). But attempts to compromise science, to introduce into the minds of people that, apart from two actions, addition and subtraction, and natural (such as 1,2,3,4, ...) numbers, there is nothing in nature, and all higher mathematics is from the evil one, continue. Yes, in recent times a group of “propagandists” appeared on the Internet claiming that we do not live on a spherical planet that rotates around its axis (which determines the change of day and night) and around the Sun, but on a flat earth, and that the Sun and Moon are holographic images, which launches spaceships and communications satellites, including global positioning satellites (https://www.glonass-iac.ru/) GLONASS (http://www.glonassgsm.ru/) and GPS (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ GPS) is falsification and deceit, and astronomy is pseudoscience. Perhaps we would not have paid any attention to these crazy statements if videos had not begun to appear on the Internet, in which it is quite seriously stated that “ all this needs to be sorted out». « How can an airplane fly over a rotating Earth, because line speed rotation (at the equator) is about 465 m/s?!". But the fact that the plane rotates with the planet, like all its inhabitants and objects, seems to be beyond the understanding of the authors of these videos. Or another question, why are objects visible that are supposed to be beyond the horizon line and which, if the Earth is spherical, should be hidden? " If objects are visible, then the Earth is flat.”, - the conclusion is made without much thought that we live on an infinite plane slightly hilly with relief. Other accomplices of brain liquefaction even arrange discussions on the Internet "for and against" the theory of a flat Earth. In these discussions, one of the arguments in favor of a flat Earth was ... the Indian Vedas, which, according to a participant in the discussion, say that the Earth is a disk.

There is an application of Overton window technology (). To legalize the idea of ​​a flat earth, Overton window technology is at the very beginning: How bold! Here are the witnesses that the Earth is flat, here is what a great video they provided, here are some “advanced amateurs” who launched a homemade rocket, but it hit something at an altitude of 100 km! - for sure it is the vault of heaven! And the fact that "advanced amateurs" receive signals to their television receivers from satellites flying over geostationary orbit at an altitude of about 40,000 km above the equator does not count! The unthinkable and absurd turns into the radical. For further developments, see the points of Overton window technology ().

Obviously another attempt to change the logic social behavior people, radically breaking their worldview. Here it is appropriate to quote point 3) from our leaflet ( , picket materials, concept file-June 15, 2016.doc): " As a result of scientific and technological progress, technologies began to replace one another often. So people in the same situations began to make completely different decisions than before(this is called the "law of time"). Let's say solar eclipse in the time of the pharaohs, it caused fear and panic among people, which was used by the “priests”, but now the eclipse is calculated ahead of time, and then they write on the photo and video, and the “priests” were left out of work. Formerly a man in order to find out the news or hear the mentor's advice, he went to church - and now the TV is turned on. The logic of people's behavior is changing.The authorities that do not understand the ongoing changes in the logic of people's social behavior will be doomed to anarchy ».

Thus, we see that the authorities UNDERSTAND what is happening, otherwise why would it be to run the Overton window technology again and again? Further, we see that this is not the power that sits in the Kremlin and sits in the State Duma, that this power occupies the next level of the hierarchy. This is the level of power of ideas, the level of power of worldviews. The "priests" and "shepherds" are out of work, but they REALLY want to regain their lost positions. To do this, you just need to return the "flat Earth", declare astronomy a pseudoscience, cancel history and higher mathematics, disperse scientists, and school education nullify.

Below we provide brief excerpts from the books in plain language providing answers to the many "whys" that arise from various observations. These answers lead to conclusions about the sphericity of the Earth. In most cases, knowledge at the level of a peasant of the century before last with 2 classes of a parochial school is sufficient to perceive the material. Considering that no one has yet canceled universal secondary education in the Russian Federation, we also provide links to more “complex” answers, with sines, cosines and other elementary algebra, and trigonometry, which, no doubt, will attract the attention of a reader who thinks with his own head.

Asset of Sverdlovsk RO KPE

The earth is round.

K. Fmammarion. Public Astronomy (PETITE ASTRONOMIE). Translated from the 7th French edition by V. CHERKASOV. Edition revised, revised and supplemented by PROF. S. N. BLAZHKO. STATE PUBLISHING HOUSE R.S.F.S.R. BERLIN, 1922.

Before turning our eyes to the sky and contemplating the Sun, Moon and stars, let us take care of the Earth on which we live.

"The Earth is Round"- this is what we have to hear and repeat, as soon as we begin to study geography. However, it is not enough to confine ourselves to this definition alone, because a thing can be both round and flat, such as, for example, a dish, a plate, a coin; it must also be added that the earth is "round like a ball, like any ball." You are shown a large ball called the earth's globe, and they say, "Here is a picture of the Earth."

How! Is the Earth, the Earth on which we walk, really arranged in this way? No doubt you are very surprised when you hear about it for the first time. Even when you have assimilated this to yourself, it will still be difficult for you to form a correct conception of it.

Indeed, at first glance, the Earth does not appear to us at all in this form. If we look around us, then the surrounding area, Part of the land, which we can observe, seems smooth in the case - when we are standing on a plain, and uneven, rough - if we are in a mountainous area. The sky spread over our head appears to us in the form of a perfectly rounded vault- blue in clear weather and gray if it is covered with clouds. This vault is as if overturned over the Earth and limits it in the distance along a circular line. The child believes that it really is so; he is convinced that there is nothing more beyond the distance, where only his eyes can see, and that there is far, far away somewhere, the sky converges with the Earth. But now he hears stories about very distant countries, about long journeys lasting months, years, and he easily realizes that, of course, the space of several versts that he can see in front of him does not the whole earth. Then the Earth begins to appear to him already very vast, but still flat, in the form of a table, or rather in the form of some immense pancake; then, on this vast plane, in various places, his imagination draws those mountains that he remembers and which appear to him in the form of small bumps or swellings on this even and flat cake. Finally, the round arch of the sky, in his view, covers the entire Earth, just as they cover a sweet cake with a glass cap.

The idea of ​​the Earth was the same among the ancient, simple-hearted and trusting, like children, people, who have not yet learned to think and reason; soon we will see what strange nonsense it led them to.

Imagine that you are in the middle of a vast plain. The area available to your review appears to you in the form of a huge circle, in the center of which you are standing. The sky is above you. The circumference of this apparent circle, that distant limit, where the sky seems to touch the Earth, is called horizon.

But beyond this horizon is still the Earth; there are fields, forests, cities, hills, and so on and so forth. Why are they not visible? Of course, because the Earth has a rounded shape, convex, and not flat at all. If the earth were flat, then we could see distant objects, as far as our vision would suffice, and these objects would only seem to us smaller and smaller and not so clear; meanwhile, this does not happen, because visible circle horizon completely hides everything behind it.

Due to the convexity of the Earth, from the place where we are located, we can survey everything that is around us, up to those points where our gaze no longer touches the surface of the Earth. Beyond this horizon, the Earth with the objects on it, rounding and lowering in all directions, will be below in relation to us; we will not be able to see these objects even then: the roundness, curvature of the Earth hides them from us.

Thus the person represented by the letter M(Fig. 3), can see objects in front of him only up to point A, where straight line, representing the direction of his vision, touches the earth's surface. In the same way, at the same distance, he can see around him and in all other directions, i.e., to points B, C, D, E(as well as on the other side, which cannot be represented in our figure).

Fig. 3. The curvature of the Earth - the limits of the horizon for an observer located on the Earth.

Fig. 4. A more extensive horizon opens up to the observer from the top of the mountain.

These points limit the field of his vision, form the line of his horizon or horizon. Objects behind this line, for example, in F, G, H, I, turn out down below and will be closed to the observer by the bulge of the earth's surface. If, however, instead of stationing ourselves in the midst of a plain, we climb some mountain, our horizons will be extended to a much greater distance. Mountain tops for us open cities or villages, forests and fields that we have not seen before, being at the foot of the mountain. At the same time, a wider circle of vision will be presented to our gaze than before, since now

Fig. 5. View of a remote village. - The curvature of the Earth allows you to see only the tops of buildings.

any straight line from the eye will touch the earth's surface at a more distant point. Thus, if the observer in our figure fits on a hill at point N (Fig. 4), then along the line representing the direction of his vision, it is clear that he will now notice objects located at points F, G, H, I, which were hidden from him by the curvature of the earth's surface before, when he stood at the foot of the hill at M (Fig. 3). However, objects K, L, which are further away, will still be closed from his eyes. Approaching a remote village on a flat area, we notice that this village does not immediately appear to our eyes, but at first we see only the bell towers and roofs of houses ( Fig. 5). What is below these outstanding buildings is hidden from our view for the time being by the convexity of the earth's surface lying between us and these objects. As you approach the village,

Fig. 6. View of the same village at a closer distance; buildings open to the eye completely; visible horizon behind them

we put forward first the upper floors of the buildings, and then their bases, as if these buildings come out of the ground (Fig. 6).

The same is even better observed at sea, where there are no hills, no irregularities that prevent looking into the distance. On the shore, a picture of a vast expanse of water opens before us, which, as it were, slightly rises to the sky, merging with it on the horizon. The ship moving away from us seems to be little by little rises, approaching the horizon, which he finally reaches; further, beyond the horizon, it seems to begin sink. First the hull of the ship disappears, then the lower sails, while the upper ones are still visible; finally, the tops of the masts are the last to disappear; in a word, as if the ship was slowly sinking into the sea (Fig. 7). If the surface of the sea were flat, then of course

Fig. 7. Curvature of the sea surface. - sequential view of the ship moving away from the observer

the ship, as long as it is possible to see it, would constantly remain before us all; the tops of the masts and the small topsails, on the other hand, would most likely escape our sight, owing to the difficulty of distinguishing them from a great distance. But the surface of the sea has the same roundness, curvature, like the Earth, and since the same phenomenon occurs equally in every direction, wherever we make the indicated observation, it follows that the surface of the sea has the same in all directions. side roundness, represents a spherical or spherical surface, like a watermelon or a ball.

Here is another proof of that. It is known that the shadow of an object resembles in its appearance the object itself. If in front of a wall illuminated by the sun or a lamp, place square notebook, then the shadow from this notebook on the wall will also be square. The shadow from the ball will be round, no matter how we turn the ball. In some cases, which will be indicated below, one can see shadow from the earth... And it turns out that this shadow is completely round; therefore, the earth is also round.

But the best proof of the roundness of the earth is that it can be walked around and in all directions. Imagine a small ant on a ball or an orange, which crawls along this ball right in front of you, turning neither to the right nor to the left; continuing to crawl in this way, he will go around the whole orange and will soon return to the place from which he started on the path, but from the opposite side. In exactly the same way, bold sailors circled our huge ball - the Earth. - They met continents on their way, continuous expanses of the earth, but, turning a little to the side (as we turn in order to bypass some obstacle, for example, trees that have fallen to the ground, again go the same way), they all- could still complete their full rotation. Constantly heading your way in the same direction, they returned to the same port from which they began their voyage, but from the side opposite to the one where they originally sailed. The first to make such a journey was a navigator Magellan who used it three years of time. Now, by means of railroads and steamboats, it is possible to make trip around the world in less than three months.

There are still other proofs for the roundness of the earth; nothing else has been proven at the present time so well and reliably as this. Making sure everyone possible ways that the earth is a ball, proceeded to measuring it... Yes, with the help of various methods, which we cannot yet describe here, astronomers measured this huge ball and found that it has a circumference of 377.5 thousand miles. Based on these methods, even the length of the measure called meter. To do this, we first took one quarter circle (Fig. 8, from E to P) or, as they say, great circle earth (meridian); then one ten-millionth part of this quarter was taken as a unit of length, as a normal measure, and called it meter(1 meter equals 22.5 inches = 0.47 fathoms = 3.28 feet).

Thus the circumference of the Earth is 40 million meters, or about 37,500 versts (40,000 kilometers) in all directions, since the Earth is equally rounded in all directions, except for a very slight pressure at the poles.

40 million meters! 38 thousand miles! What a ball! This is such an amazing size that it is difficult even to imagine such a hulk. A vast and also rounded sea covers three-quarters of the surface of this ball, which serves as a common home for all of us. Spaces of solid earth, continents, fill in the rest and retain almost the same regular curvature as if the sea were spreading everywhere.

Fig. 8. Measuring the circumference of the earth

"Well, what about the mountains?" you will notice. - As for the mountains, they add absolutely nothing. Take a look at the orange; there are slight roughness on its skin. But does this prevent the orange from remaining round in any way? Of course not. So here it is highest mountains compared to the whole earth will be much less than the roughness of the skin in relation to an orange. If we wanted to depict this relationship exactly on a globe representing the Earth, and the size of, say, a very large watermelon, then in order to designate the highest mountains on it, it would be enough to throw a few small, almost imperceptible grains of sand on such a ball. Small irregularities, such as continents and mountains, do not in the least prevent the Earth from remaining a perfectly regular ball.

Then, when your imagination is a little familiar with these ideas, you will see that that form, which has neither corners nor edges, is the simplest and most natural of all other forms. This form is assumed by itself in a drop of a flowing liquid, a drop of rain while it is still falling, a drop of dew on the leaves. Finally, we will soon see that the Sun, the Moon, and all the luminaries that we notice in the sky, are also spheres in appearance; it is quite natural after this that the earth also has the same form; On the contrary, one might rather be surprised if if only she was alone was arranged differently.

***

It is known that the shortest distance between two points on a plane is a straight line. However, on Earth this is true only at short distances. With sea travel, say, from the Cape of Good Hope to the southern tip of Australia, or from Yokohama to the Panama Canal, this is not true. The fact is that we live on the surface of a ball, and not on a plane, and on the surface of a ball there are their own geometric patterns. The above excerpt from the book by Ya.I. Perelman "Entertaining Astronomy" convincingly and simply illustrates this fact. .

The shortest path on Earth and on the map

(from the book by Ya.I. Perelman "Entertaining Astronomy", 7th edition, edited by P.G. Kulikovsky. State Publishing House of Technical and Theoretical Literature. Moscow, 1954)

Having outlined two points on the blackboard with chalk, the teacher offers the young student a task: to draw the shortest path between both points.

The student, after thinking, diligently draws a winding line between them.

That's the shortest way! - the teacher is surprised. - Who taught you that?

My dad. He is a taxi driver.

The drawing of a naive schoolboy is, of course, anecdotal, but wouldn't you smile if you were told that the dotted arc in fig. 1 - the shortest way from the Cape of Good Hope to the southern tip of Australia! Depicted in fig. 1 as if the "straight" sea route from Africa to Australia is 6020 miles, and the "curve" - ​​5450 miles, i.e. shorter by 570 miles, or 1050 km.

Even more striking is the following statement: the circuitous route from Japan to the Panama Canal shown in Fig. 2 is shorter than the straight line drawn between them on the same map!

Rice. 1. On the sea chart, the shortest route from the Cape of Good Hope to the southern tip of Australia is indicated not by a straight line (“loxodrome”), but by a curve (“orthodromy”)

All this looks like a joke, but meanwhile before you are indisputable truths, well known to cartographers.

Rice. 2. It seems incredible that the curved path connecting Yokohama to the Panama Canal on a sea chart is shorter than a straight line drawn between the same points

To clarify the issue, a few words will have to be said about charts in general and about nautical charts in particular. Drawing on paper parts of the earth's surface is not an easy task, even in principle, because the Earth is a sphere, and it is known that no part of the spherical surface can be deployed on a plane without folds and breaks. Involuntarily, one has to put up with the inevitable distortions on the maps. Many ways of drawing maps have been invented, but all maps are not free from shortcomings: some have distortions of one kind, others of a different kind, but there are no maps without distortions at all.

Sailors use maps drawn according to the method of an old Dutch cartographer and mathematician of the 16th century. Mercator. This method is called the Mercator projection. It is easy to recognize a sea chart by its rectangular grid: the meridians are shown on it as a series of parallel straight lines; circles of latitude - also straight lines perpendicular to the first.

Imagine now that you want to find the shortest path from one ocean port to another on the same parallel. On the ocean, all paths are available, and it is always possible to travel there along the shortest path if you know how it lies. In our case, it is natural to think that the shortest path goes along the parallel on which both ports lie: after all, on the map it is a straight line, and what can be shorter direct way! But we are mistaken: the path along the parallel is not at all the shortest.

Indeed: on the surface of a ball, the shortest distance between two points is a great circle arc connecting them ( big A circle on the surface of a sphere is any circle whose center coincides with the center of this sphere. All other circles on the ball are called small). But the circle of parallel is a small circle. The arc of a large circle is less curved than the arc of any small circle drawn through the same two points: a larger radius corresponds to a smaller curvature. Pull the thread on the globe between our two points (cf. Fig. 3); you will make sure that it does not lie along the parallel at all. A stretched thread is an indisputable indicator of the shortest path, and if it does not coincide with a parallel on a globe, then on a sea chart the shortest path is not indicated by a straight line: remember that circles of parallels are depicted on such a map by straight lines, any line that does not coincide with a straight line , there is a curve.

Rice. 3. A simple way to find the really shortest path between two points: you need to pull a thread on the globe between these points

After what has been said, it becomes clear why the shortest path on the sea chart is depicted not as a straight line, but as a curved line.

They say that when choosing the direction for the Nikolaev (now Oktyabrskaya) railway, there were endless disputes about which way to lay it. The disputes were put to an end by the intervention of Tsar Nicholas I, who solved the problem literally “straightforward”: he connected St. Petersburg with Moscow along the line. If this had been done on a Mercator map, it would have been an embarrassing surprise: instead of a straight line, the road would have turned out to be a curve.

Those who do not avoid calculations can verify this with a simple calculation. (read more book)

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Why are objects sometimes visible that are supposed to be hidden behind the horizon due to the sphericity of the Earth? Why, during a thunderstorm, when dark and light stripes in the sky suddenly begin to alternate, do twilight rays seem to diverge as if the light source is 4, and not 140 million km away? (see 25 optical phenomena in nature that amaze the imagination

Here is a short excerpt from the article

How optical solar illusions work: "anti-crepuscular rays", "solar pillar" and "Tyndall effect"

The sun's rays burst into our atmosphere at a speed of three hundred thousand kilometers per second. Encountering a planet on their way, they are able to create optical illusions of unprecedented beauty. We have long been accustomed to some of them, for example, twilight rays, and have ceased to pay special attention to them, others, not so ordinary, eyewitnesses, on the contrary, are inclined to regard them as otherworldly phenomena or the appearance of UFOs, but they also have a simple explanation. To get to the bottom of them, let's start simple.

How do twilight rays work?

First of all, for the appearance of twilight rays at dawn or sunset (in the English version - “Crepuscular rays”), sunlight must meet clouds or mountain peaks on its way, which will divide it into beams of light, diverging from one point to almost a third of the sky. The twilight rays are so clearly visible to the human eye due to the fact that the region of space illuminated by the sun air is clearly separated from the shaded space. The second point, without which it is impossible to see these rays, is the presence in the high layers of the atmosphere certain concentration water vapor or dust, particles of which would reflect and scatter light in our direction. In fact, the sun's rays are parallel, despite the illusion that they converge towards the sun like a giant fan. In the same way we see how the rails railway in the distance disappear at one point.

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Rays of light do not always travel in a straight line. Depending on the density of media, the higher the density, the lower the speed, the rays of light are bent. Refraction or refraction is clearly visible in the picture below :

Accounting for refraction in the optical range, see here

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