Another phenomenon that proves the Earth is a spinning globe is the Coriolis force, which acts perpendicular to the direction of motion of a spinning mass. This force leads to cylones swirling clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere; through the direction of winds, it also impacts ocean currents.
Long-range military snipers even have to make allowance for deflections caused by the Coriolis effect. Indeed, as Slegr points out, getting physics students to explain the evidence for a spherical spinning Earth is a great critical-thinking exercise. This inverse temperature gradient means that light rays refract toward the colder, denser air, allowing an image of the reflected skyline, formed on the water below the horizon, to appear almost hovering above the horizon figure 1.
The fact that the buildings are visible is in fact simply a mirage. Light bends down towards the denser air, but because our eyes assume the light has travelled in a straight line, the object appears higher than it is.
The effect also explains why a far-off ship can be seen even though it might have dipped below the horizon. It can even make distant boats appear to float in the air. But, as McIntyre found, this type of reasoning is unlikely to convince flat-Earthers.
Instead, given that flat-Earthers place so much emphasis on naked-eye observations, he and colleague Derek Roff decided to create a navigable 3D computer simulation of a flat Earth to see how well it could replicate what we see. Based on the US version of the flat-Earth model, it allows anyone to virtually roam a flat world. One of the major problems is the size and brightness of the Sun. In the flat-Earth model this varies by more than a factor of two from sunrise to midday, something we obviously do not see.
The night sky also differs. In the northern hemisphere we see constellations rising in the east and arcing across the sky but in the flat-Earth model they would just circle at a constant height. I no longer feel that way. But Effingham, who has also interacted with flat-Earthers on Facebook, wonders if physics is the place to start combating these conspiracy-based ideas.
Effingham also tries to point out their inconsistencies. He was simply told that planes can fly on one tank of fuel and refuelling planes could just be a giant hoax to stop us realizing that the Earth is flat. Landrum agrees the underlying problem is one of trust rather than physics. That may seem like an excruciatingly painful process, but a necessary one, for people to gain trust in science as an institution again.
A level of sustained personal engagement can change minds. He was appointed by Donald Trump in and was known to have disputed climate change. The difference was that the evidence was presented to him by scientists he had grown to trust. Oddly, Landrum says that many flat-Earthers may distrust scientists, but they are not against the scientific method.
Close search menu Submit search Type to search. Topics Astronomy and space Atomic and molecular Biophysics and bioengineering Condensed matter Culture, history and society Environment and energy Instrumentation and measurement Materials Mathematics and computation Medical physics Optics and photonics Particle and nuclear Quantum.
Once upon a time, it made sense for people to believe that the Earth was flat, says University of Melbourne cartographer Chandra Jayasuriya. He noted that on the 21st of June that year, in a town called Syene near modern day Aswan , the reflection of the sun could be seen in a deep well, meaning that it was directly overhead.
But in Alexandria, around kilometres away and almost directly north of Syene, at noon on the same day, the angle of the sun was about seven degrees — or oneth of a circle. The mathematician and astronomer assigned these coordinates to more than places across the known world. As well as observations of the sun and its shadows, Ms Jayasuriya says many scientists throughout history continued to gather observations and evidence that the Earth is spherical including:.
You get a bunch of people around you who are constantly reaffirming your belief. Dr Beckett notes that the flat Earth community uses various social media platforms in distinct, overlapping ways in order to create a kind of ecosystem around their beliefs. Tough as bones: Biodegradable tailor-made metal scaffolds. Accessible science: Denise Camilleri interviews Claude Bajada.
What does health mean to you? Enter the swarm. Collaboration Advertise Internship. New research deflates current understanding of the shape of our world. Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close malta university of malta think research Think Magazine. See all results. Remember Me. Sign In.
Enter username or email.
0コメント