Flat-Earthers performed the coin on a table “experiment” to “explain” how a sunset can occur on a flat Earth. Instead, it tells us more about their confirmation bias.
This is probably one of the most ridiculous flat-Earth arguments. It is so obviously wrong that many of us are having trouble explaining it and cannot accept that a member of the human race can fall for it.
They put a coin on a table and slide it away. The coin becomes invisible, and they claim this is how sunset works on a flat Earth. In reality, the camera is placed slightly below the table plane. And sliding the coin away will obscure it behind the edge of the table.
Then, they zoom in their camera, and it reveals the previously obscured coin. This “magical” phenomenon convinces them that it is how sunset works if Earth is flat, despite the fact that it does not look remotely resemble an actual sunset. In reality, zooming in using a camera will enlarge the camera’s entrance pupil. Now, a portion of the entrance pupil rises above the table and can see the coin.
In the real world, the sun can be seen above us; it does not skim over Earth’s surface. The sun has a constant apparent size throughout the day, and zooming in will never reveal the sun that has gone below the horizon. This so-called “experiment” can only imitate a single property of sunset: the sun appears to sink below the horizon. However, it fails to explain all the other observations.
Flat-Earthers need to forego many of the knowledge gained from years of education and experience. In this case, they need to forget the knowledge of how the world works they gained from their childhood years. All the knowledge they gained from playing hide and seek? They need to forget all of it.
References
- Camera Entrance Pupil Size and the Zoom Factor – FlatEarth.ws