The Flat Earth Theory

In the 7th century B.C. everyone knew that the earth was flat and they had no reason to think otherwise until “great” thinkers like Pythagoras stated otherwise. Today we know that the earth is round, but, how do we really know? An everyday human being has not been to the moon, has not even been outside of the stratosphere. So how can one say for sure that the earth is a spinning ball? Starting in the 19th century people started to ask these exact questions which lead to Zetetic Astronomy or more commonly known as the Flat Earth Theory. As people started to poke around they realized there is an abundance of proofs that disprove our supposed knowledge. From the supposed curvature to water and the horizon, to railroad tracks and airplanes all …show more content…
Everyone believes that the reason you cannot see a ship as it gets farther from the shore is because of the curvature of the Earth. The supposed circumference of the earth is a little less than 25,000 miles. That would make the curvature of the earth 8 inches for every mile (Harley 1). There have been many studies and experiments done throughout the centuries that prove that this curvature would be disprove the possibility of a curved earth. There was a study called the conducted in the 19th century by a man named M.M. Biot. In this experiment he took a powerful lamp with good reflectors and placed in on the summit of Desierto Las Palmas in Spain and was able to be seen all the way from Camprey on the island of Iviza which is about 100 miles (Dubay 3-4). If you were to take into consideration the curvature of the earth the light would have been more than 6600 feet below the line of sight. …show more content…
“Surveyors, engineers and architects are never required to factor the supposed curvature of the Earth into their projects. Canals, railways, bridges and tunnels for example are always cut and laid horizontally, often over hundreds of miles without any allowance for curvature” (Dubay 2). There are many different people from engineers to railroad companies who have been published stating that they leave no room in their calculations for curvature. There are railroads all over the world that have been built over hundreds of miles. Trains have to travel on something called true flats or flats. Surveyors state that even though there are inclines and gradients which are carefully considered, anything near 8 inches per mile would be unworkable by surveyors. The Flat Earth Conspiracy is very controversial in society today. Both sides of the issue have very valid proofs and opinions on the subject but, many people are not open to questioning something that they have believed to be true their entire lives and the lives before them. Just as Nicolaus Copernicus believed the Earth was the center of the Universe, we believe the Earth is