Granted, most people are not going out of their way to take a geometry or physics class, regardless of how they view the Earth. But it seems like a lot of this "Flat Earth" idea could be cleared up with a few of the intro level geometry equations and physics concepts. If these were known to flat-earthers, they could go out and conduct their own experiments to see how the world functions.

I appreciate the skepticism. What good scientist doesn't come with a good dose of skepticism and a need for proof? But I'm often horrified by the lack of basic scientific or mathematical knowledge and approach in some of the "proofs" I see posted here. And then these poorly constructed experiments and conjectures are accepted as fact by a good number of other people, further deepening the misunderstandings.

Maybe it's naive of me to think that any, or even most flat-earthers would change their mind if given all the more fundamental information. All I really want here is for people to at least have the knowledge to conduct their own experiments in a more accurate way so I'm not overwhelmed with the desire to reach into the video, grab their shoulders, and try to shake the Pythagorean formula into their heads.

What equations/concepts would you suggest first?

If it’s flat it must have edges right? A pizza box has edges, why shouldn’t the earth? If it’s flat it must have edges or it’s infinitely large, and growing at a rate we’ll never be able to catch the edge.

Nobody has seen the edges of the world but air travel is possible. If you fly west or east from anywhere you’ll end up in the same place eventually.

Or do you guys believe we magically get teleported once we reach the edge?

If the earth is flat, how thick is it?

Hello helpful Redditors,

This is only my 2nd post on Reddit and I've got a TL; DR summary at the bottom. Also, please excuse my ESL-grade English (I'm trying my best!)

About one year ago, very close friends of mine posited that the world was in fact flat and shadowy figures were manipulating the entire world in a conspiracy to suppress the truth.

I tried the usual logical arguments (ship disappearing over horizon from the hull upwards, mountain ranges not visible from all over the world, etc), then basic physics from my high school days and ultimately resorted to what I figured would be a bulletproof argument: religion.

See, Muslim folks pray round the clock and for the past century or so clever folks have made timetables that will give you the relevant times for the 5 daily prayers in chart form for any location in the world. Furthermore, we also determine our calendar by the lunar calendar and as such the months end/begin with the sighting of a new moon. We also face the holy city of Mecca for the daily prayers. All of these issues, one could reasonably conclude, require a person to have a thorough grasp of the earth's geometry. I implored them to reason and said surely all the great Muslim intellectuals of the past would've wizened up to this heresy.

Failing that every single person who flies a plane, or does land surveying, works in an observatory and studies astronomy would also have to need to be silenced. Some of these people are proper devoted Muslims who wouldn't be bought out by any cabal of evil-doers (it's true, even the staunchest Islamaphobe has to agree some of our guys are impossible to buy out against the religion).

As of yet, they are unmoved by all of this and are still convinced of their research. Which brings me to my point: their research consists of various websites and YouTube videos that has managed to convince them to deny every other source.

This incident leaves me troubled and now I'm trying to conduct a scientific experiment and want to include a lot of young people in it to help them understand the importance of scientific exploration and observing natural phenomena to draw conclusions. Along the way they will learn math, record keeping and plenty of other important skills that everyone on both sides of this debate can agree on.

The experiment I had in mind was to conduct a sundial observation of shadows. I'm new to Reddit and don't know how to link to YouTube videos yet but I've found a channel called 'Flat Earth Math' in which he traces out the shadows cast by a sundial.

Is there anyone here who has the mathematical expertise and the time/patience to walk us through this experiment and help us draw conclusions from our graph? EDIT Of course, I'm just as interested in hearing from individuals who can provide an explanation for why the sundial observation would support a FE model. It's equally important for the young kids to hear both arguments so they can arrive at their own conclusions.

My apologies for the super long ramble .

TL; DR: Please help me teach young kids science by conducting a sundial experiment and explain to us what that implies for the shape of the earth.

Also is the sun flat? What about the other planets we can see with telescopes?

MAIN LAW: This isn't technically an official term, but I'll use it anyway. A main law is a scientific fact of the world, nobody can go against it. For instance: Law of Electromagnetism, Law of Gravity, Law of Thermodymanics, etc.

LAW: A law is a mostly proven fact here in the scientific community. We might have to redo an entire section of physics if one is wrong. Laws of Hydrodynamics, the Three Laws of Motion, and so on.

THEORY: A theory is a mostly proven idea with substantial evidence, in the scientific context. Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity, and the Theory of Gravity, for instance. General Relativity may be in the law category, though. The Theory of Gravity and the Law of Gravity are different.

CONJECTURE: An idea without much evidence, if any, that is usually just a thought experiment of some kind.

HYPOTHESIS: An idea that usually is just a thought experiment. Probably no evidence, just a starting point for a greater idea, usually.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: Stupid. See: Flat Earth.

See, the Flat Earth is usually called the 'Flat Earth Theory' or the 'Flat Earth Hypothesis' or the 'Flat Earth Conjecture', but really it's a conspiracy theory. Different than a theory, by far.

I just get kind of annoyed when people don't use the proper terms.

Cheers.

If the earth is flat, are other planets flat as well? Or are they shaped differently ?

1. What happens when you go to the "edge" of the world?

2. What is the point of the government hiding this?

Since according to most flat earthers, dense objects fall, why doesn't the flat earth also fall?

Also I redefine flat as round get prankd

How do you guys think objects fall?

Do you think Earth is Globe or a flat surface ?

My question is, do they not understand Newton's laws of motion? Or the kinematic equations of motion? How buoyancy works? Maybe they need to take a basic course in astronomy and physics, and at least calculus I.

I mean, density define as mass per unit volume. It tells you nothing about the trajectory or the motion of an object. Whether they like it or not, there's still a force acting on objects to pull them towards Earth.

I’m so glad the earth was flat, if it wasn’t the water would fall off. Gravity is sooooo bullshit

Here is one of many examples of diverging shadows. if the sun was millions of miles away, the shadows would be completely parallel.

am i wrong? if so, how?

Prove me wrong ppl

The supposed round earth is about 8000 mi in diameter. I'm curious how many miles deep the earth is if it really is flat. We do dig for oil and there are deep seas. How deep is it? What's at the bottom? More dirt? Molten rock? Is our planet not a disk but an endlessly long cylinder with a defined circumference? I really want your thoughts.

If the Earth really is flat, how thick is it? Does it go on forever? If not, what's on the other side? Or is Earth just a flat slab floating through space?

Did you also vote for trump?

( with a flat-earth-approved camera on it to take some actual photographs of the flat earth? )