The earth is round. Round I tell you!
Not only have people from countless generations known it and proved it mathematically, most of these experiments can be repeated by most anyone with a little bit of time. Isaac Asimov put it well when saying "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
When confronted with scientific evidence, some of these so-called "flat earthers" tend to skew and incorrectly interpret whatever they take offense with at the moment, creating headaches for everyone else. That being said, let's take a look at five arguments, that, in my opinion, do a pretty darn convincing job of telling us to listen to the people with the science degrees and move on to arguing over something else.
1. Ships moving over the horizon
This video shows that when a ship "vanishes" over the horizon, you can clearly see the bottom of the ship disappears before the rigging and the masts do. alternately, when a ship crests the horizon, you will see the sails appear before the rest of the ship. A flat earth would never have this happen on a calm ocean.
2. You can measure the curve just like this
I'm just letting this video speak for itself. Unfortunately, this is refuted by people for somewhat dubious reasons, so you be the judge.
3. If our earth is flat, why are the other planets round?
Anyone can take a telescope and clearly see that the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all clearly visible. with a more powerful telescope, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto become visible. All are clearly rotating spheroids. Why would Earth be the only flat planet? (Pluto isn't considered, a planet, but you get the idea.)
4. Why haven't we discovered other flat planets?
Everyone has been searching the night sky for hundreds of years. Why haven't we found any planet-sized floating disks in orbit around stars? I understand that space is vast, but if we can't find a flat planet easily, doesn't that mean that the chances of us being on a flat earth are that much smaller?
5. Why haven't cats knocked everything off of the Earth yet?
Okay I can't take credit for this theory. This comes from my Editor in Chief, Jonathan Pettyjohn, and I wholeheartedly agree. Just watch this cat mercilessly knock everything off the table. If we basically live on a giant round table, why haven't they knocked everything off of it already? Case closed.
Anything else we want to add to the argument? I'm not a scientist and don't claim to be one, but there are ones out there that agree with (mostly) everything on this list. Let's talk about it! Just remember to be respectful it in the comments! (I'm talking to you. Yes, you. That means you. No trash talk, please.)
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