Debunking Flat Earth Misconceptions
An airplane exists on Earth. It has the same motion as the surface of the Earth, including the Earth’s rotating motion. The motion of the airplane itself is measured relative to the surface of the Earth.
Flat-Earthers think that due to Earth’s rotation, an airplane should not be able to fly east or land. They are wrong. The speed of an airplane is relative to the surface. It retains the motion of the Earth and does not need to chase Earth’s rotation.
Earth’s atmosphere is part of the Earth. It practically follows Earth’s rotating motion like the rest of the Earth. Due to various factors, Earth’s atmosphere has relatively small and uneven movement relative to the surface. We call it ‘wind.’ The fastest wind ever recorded is about 408 km/h, relative to Earth’s surface.
Many misconceptions about Earth arise from the wrong idea that only Earth’s solid body is rotating, but the atmosphere is not. If it is true, then we should always feel the wind with the speed of 1674 km/h near the equator, or more than 4× the fastest wind ever recorded. We don’t feel such a wind, and thus we know our atmosphere is moving at practically at the same speed as Earth’s surface.
We cannot travel to another location by hovering inside a helicopter and wait for the Earth to rotate below us until we are above our destination. The reason is the phenomenon of inertia.
Flat-Earthers claim that we cannot do such a thing as ‘proof’ of a motionless Earth. They are wrong. When on the ground, the helicopter itself is already moving at the same velocity as Earth’s surface.
The Foucault Pendulum is an experiment to demonstrate Earth’s rotation, named after French physicist Léon Foucault. The Foucault pendulum is the first simple and direct evidence of the Earth’s rotation. It is a straightforward experiment: a huge pendulum is allowed to swing throughout the day, and it will slowly rotate because of Earth’s rotation.
For any flat-Earthers, the Foucault pendulum is one of the facts that must be discredited. They would invent various “explanations” to reject the conclusion of the experiment. They are wrong. Anyone is free to repeat the experiment, and when done correctly, it will result in a consistent result and in line with expectations.
Continue reading “The Foucault Pendulum Proves Spherical and Rotating Earth”
Aether was the hypothetical material that fills the region of space. It was assumed to be the medium that allows light and gravity to propagate in space. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, some experiments were carried out to prove if the aether exists.
Flat-Earthers (and geocentrists alike) often use the results of these experiments to support their case that the Earth is stationary. But they are wrong. These experiments were conducted to prove if the Aether theory, or if one of its competing hypotheses —like the Special Relativity— better explains reality.
Continue reading “The Aether Experiments are Never Evidence of Flat and Stationary Earth”
Eötvös effect is the change in perceived gravitational acceleration when moving eastward vs westward. An object will weigh more when moving westward than when it is stationary or moving eastward.
The effect was discovered by Loránd Eötvös in the 1900s after noticing the difference in gravity measurement on moving ships. He noticed that the readings were lower when the boat moved eastwards, higher when it moved westward. He identified this as primarily a consequence of the rotation of the Earth.
Continue reading “Eötvös Effect: Evidence of Spherical, Rotating Earth”
Midnight Sun is a phenomenon where the Sun remains visible at midnight. This phenomenon occurs in the summer months north of Arctic Circle, and south of the Antarctic Circle.
The apparent motion of the Sun in both polar regions is different. In the north polar region, the Sun moves from left to right. On the other hand, in Antarctica, the Sun moves from right to left. There is no explanation other than that Earth is a sphere.
Continue reading “Midnight Sun in Both Polar Regions Proves Spherical Earth”
The mass of the Earth exerts the gravitational acceleration of about 9.79 m/s² to everything on Earth’s surface toward the center of the Earth. On the other hand, the rotational motion of the Earth generates the centrifugal acceleration of about 0.03 m/s² away from the Earth. The net acceleration is about 9.79 m/s² toward the center of the Earth. That is why everything on Earth’s surface stays on the surface, not flying away to space.
Flat-Earthers often make a false comparison using a wet spinning ball. Water on the surface of a wet spinning ball does not stick to the ball; but the Earth is also round, wet and spins, yet everything stays on the surface. Then they make the erroneous conclusion that the Earth cannot be a spinning ball.
Continue reading “The False Analogy of a Spinning Tennis Ball”