What is your insight on the shape of our planet?

Would you mind sharing the video? I would be very interested in hearing how they explain people flying around the world, the horizon, gravity, as well as how our satellites orb around a flat object.

Needless to say I voted for a standard sphere, as either that is the case or exactly everything I know about physics (which granted is not a whole lot) is incorrect, or our planet has a magical exemption from following the otherwise universal properties of physics while still appearing to follow them. Yeah... Sticking with standard sphere for now. :lol:

 

I'm a flat Earther. I went on a Disney cruise and when I looked out the ocean looked flat, not curved. "Physics" are BS, just look out a window. /s

(I think flat-Earthers are the funniest thing in the world, I love that this ridiculous discussion even exists. I ofc believe Earth is a standard sphere).

 

I'm thinking square lol.
I don't know really

 

Well, the earth is not exactly a perfect sphere, it's kinda flattened a bit at the poles, that's as close to flat that the earth is at the moment.

I find it so fascinating that people hold such points of view. Flat-earthers, fundamentalist home-schoolers, evolution deniers, Trump voters...they all reject in-your-face facts while filling in the inevitable blanks with whatever half-baked ideas that spew forth from their fevered brains. The internet just seems to magnify the reach of this insanity.

 

There is no logical evidence for a flat earth. Jeez. It's interesting to read about like any other conspiracy theories, but it's fiction.

 

As a physicist, I'd have to strongly disagree with that, baconpox!:lol:

I don't think Enjel wants the real answer on this thread, but in simple terms, no the Earth is not a perfect sphere. greatwhale is mostly right. The earth is flattened at the poles, but it is not static, it is pulled by the moon and since the moon is continually orbiting the planet, the side of the earth facing the moon is pulled slightly towards it, distorting the perfect sphere and causing a flattening at the poles. There are other things that make the Earth a non-perfect sphere, but that's probably not of interest to this forum.

 

Not all homeschoolers are like that! That's a stereotype. -_- I'm a homeschooler and I accept all the obvious facts like the Earth being spherical.

 

There were also videos on YouTube that proved the world was going to end in 2012. :rolle: Although some may claim we are less ignorant because of the Internet, I would contest that. Certainly the Internet makes it easier for stupidity and ignorance to be corroborated. No, the earth is not a perfect sphere, but that doesn't support the idea that it's flat. No one said it was anyhow--viz. the use of "spherical", a word only meaning "resembling a sphere".

Oh, and the Earth was created on October 26, 4004 BC.

 

Are you sure it wasn't NOVEMBER 26, 4004 BC? I would have sworn that the creation of the Earth was the basis for celebrating Thanksgiving. Well, that's the rumor I heard anyway.:lol:

 

I actually am in complete agreement with home-schooling, which is why I added "fundamentalist" to qualify that particular type of home "schooling" which seeks to reject evolution. I happen to believe quite strongly that conventional schools in their present configuration do more harm than good. In fact, I am of the opinion that most (properly) home-schooled students would run circles around any conventionally schooled student and perform vastly better on most, if not all, subjects.

 

I was homeschooled for most of my high school years and it was completely detrimental in ways other than educational. The benefits of public schools doesn't lay in the educational foundation, but in socialization and societal experience. If I ever have children, they're not being homeschooled.

 

I still believe the Earth is a sphere. I believe this because of the Foucault Pendulum experiment; a lot of people think it's due to aetheric whirlpools, but I digress. I do love this post because it goes deep into other possibilities. I'm very open-minded, so other theories interest me.

 

Actually, the Foucault Pendulum demonstrates the rotational motion of the earth, not that it is necessarily a sphere... Oooops, the physicist in me seems to keep coming out today. Sorry.:lol:

 

I don't know anything about this experiment, in fact I had not heard of it until now. But if the earth were flat, would not the centrifugal effect on a pendulum differ depending on where you stood on earth then? I am talking about something I don't understand at all here, so I am probably wrong and using incorrect terminology, but it sounds like we would notice the earth is flat using that method too?

 

Sorry... ^^; I must not have read that right...so many people always stereotype me because I'm a homeschooler and I'm like, "Actually, no, I'm an atheist and I do believe that the Earth is round and I'm not homophobic etc so shut up, k?" xD
Homeschooling is great and me and my brother are more academically intelligent than a lot of our school friends but the only problem is...neither of us...have...friends... .-.

 

Hi HappyGirl! I don't want to get too deep on this since this is a Chit Chat Forum, not a Physics discussion group, but basically you are right that the centrifugal effect (force) will be different depending on your distance from the point of rotation. That, however, would only effect which way a hanging pendulum (as opposed to a swinging pendulum) points "down." The Foucault Pendulum experiment demonstrates how the flat plane (piece of the earth) directly under the swinging pendulum turns (rotates) over time. Two separate forces and effects. I hope I haven't just confused you!:icon_sad:

 

The Earth cannot be a "sphere", it should be an "oblate spheroid". So yeah I hit none of the above.

And no, it's not hollow nor flat.. Sadly, some people still refuse to believe that the Earth is a non-hollow oblate spheroid..

 

Oblate spheroid!