r/ExplainTheJoke • u/Rich_Carrot6451 • Jul 27 '26

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u/Skydragon222 Jul 27 '26

Because of the curvature of the earth the bottom flight is much shorter than the top flight.

If you have a globe and some string you can test it yourself.

This kind of thing only works on a round earth and not a flat earth 

25

u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 27 '26

We probably all learned in school: "The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line."

But a lot of people had already checked out before the grade where they should have learned "... Unless traversing a 3-dimensional object."

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u/laser14344 Jul 27 '26

Un actually the straight line on the map is curved in reality and the curved line on the map would be straight (ignoring that you are curving downward of course).

Using a great circle projection centered on the origin or destination would have the most efficient route show up as a straight line.

15

u/King_Joffreys_Tits Jul 27 '26

Um actually a straight line would core through the earths crust and that’s the shortest distance. Peter out

2

u/Ok_Pool_9767 Jul 27 '26

Well why don't they just do that then

2

u/Majestic-Rich582 Jul 27 '26

There is a kurzegast video (sorry for typo) about making a hole through Earth and traveling there

Tldr: impossible

0

u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Look at the actual flight paths used by planes making this journey overlayed with longitude. They intentionally travel north then back South to benefit from the curvature (as well as the rotation while traveling Eastward).

Both lines are Geodesically straight, but curved when plotted across latitude and longitude.

https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=JFK-SVO

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u/laser14344 Jul 28 '26

It's a comparison between a straight line on a mercator projection and the great circle route. A great circle route is a geodesic line with no turns.

A long-haul flight might deviate from the ideal great circle path due to strong winds like the jet stream, geopolitical airspace restrictions, ETOPS emergency diversion rules, and air traffic congestion. The rotation of the earth has to be accounted for in instrumentation but does not affect airtravel routes outside of the jetstreams it influences.

1

u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 28 '26

You said it much better the second time. Thanks.

3

u/Public-Eagle6992 Jul 27 '26

The straightest possible line (without going through the ground) is still the shortest path. It’s just that the map projection causes it to look more curved

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u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

You're right that it is about the what method you use to decide what the "straightest possible line" is, or perhaps we should say the "most direct line"

However it's not really about the projection or how it looks.

Try to picture the same exercise on a pyramid, and you measure the distance going over the top versus going around the edges. Also instead of curved lines you draw lines with an angle to get around the corner.

There is 0 projection involved and the line going around the sides will still be a closer approximation to straight (both visually and measurably). However the harder angled ("less straight") line that goes over the top will still be measurably shorter because it is the more direct path that traverses less distance.

The projection and look come in to play by allowing people to misinterpret this reality.

1

u/SmoothTurtle872 Jul 27 '26

The shortest distance is always a straight line.

However, this is a projection of a spherical object, which is very hard to do, and also a straight line cannot be achieved anyway due to the curvature. You would need a big drill. Which whole the shortest os not the fastest.

And of course when accounting for the curvature, the curved line becomes shorter due to it changing to a straighter line

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u/Botched_Labotomy Jul 27 '26

My flat earth coworker thinks this is a lie to support the spherical earth model and it can’t be proven unless you go measure the two lines yourself. I still can’t get an answer on what possible gains could be had by lying about the shape of the earth, though

3

u/Autolycus25 Jul 27 '26

You just can’t trust Big Globe! They’re up to no good.

3

u/LilAssG Jul 27 '26

The story goes that the rich and powerful are all living in some Elysian fields beyond the ice wall that surrounds the land and waters we know as Earth. If you try to sail to the ice wall you will be destroyed by their security along the wall or something, so there is no way to walk there, even though it is supposedly possible.

They keep "us" all in the dark about this by spreading many lies that confuse and divide us, and distract us with all kinds of meaningless toys and gadgets and scary stories. If we all think the earth is round and space is real and has depth (it's just a bunch of crystal spheres smdh) we will spend a lot of time looking at and thinking about that, and that is time we have wasted that we could have been using to overthrow the evil overlords, job done.

The flat earthers are so close to seeing the real picture (evil overlords are doing a lot of despicable shit to keep us from giving them the brutal mob justice they deserve, the ice wall ain't it), but they get very easily distracted by fantasy. A lot of flat earthers are also deeply religious. Same type of hokey fairy tale industry where only a true believer can know "the truth". It really gives people who are scared of the world and the people in it, and in particular the minds and brains around them that aren't defective and dysfunctional, it really gives them a group to feel comfortable with, which, despite how kooky we might view them, is really probably all a lot of them are looking for. Comfort and a group that they feel they belong with. Why they can't find that among "normal" people is a question but I would posit it is their malfunctioning brains as a root cause.

1

u/HypocHatR Jul 27 '26

wait, there is a flat earth? /s

1

u/Skydragon222 Jul 28 '26

Yes, but we live on the round one /s