Flat or Globe

Curiosity about the shape of the Earth started from the very beginning of human civilization. Ancient Greeks were the first one to believe that the Earth is a big ball. Greek philosopher Pythagoras suggested first in 6^th Century BC that the Earth is not a flat land. After that Aristotle came up with some empirical evidences that confirm Pythagoras’s statement. However ancient Babylonians believed that the Earth is Flat. As it was confirmed by Aristotle most of the people then believed in a spherical Earth. There is a common misconception that mathematician Ptolemy believed the Earth is Flat as in his model (which was widely accepted and later debunked by Nicolaus Copernicus)  the Earth was stationary on it's axis like the Flat Earth model. But Ptolemy and most of the Greek philosophers believed that the Earth is stationary even though it is round. Much later in 1838 Samuel Rowbotham an English scientist did an experiment widely known as Bedford Level Experiment after which he concluded the Earth is flat and wrote the book ‘Zetetic Astronomy’. After that the Babylonian Flat Earth believes started it’s journey again. YouGov, a global public opinion and data company created a poll on the shape of the Earth where only 84% American voted the Earth is spherical. And 66% people who are 18-24 believes that the Earth is flat which is pretty concerning. In the year 2017 the first Flat Earth International Conference (FEIC) took place in North Carolina, US. This blog is dedicated to refute some of the absurd believes of a Flat Earther and will draw a conclusion on the shape of the Earth

Flat Earth Model

The Flat Earth Model:

• Earth is disk shaped 
• North pole is in the center 
• Antarctica is surrounding the whole Earth
• The Sun and The Moon are too much smaller than the Earth 
• The Sun and The Moon rotate over the stationary (along rotational axis) Earth

More Scientific views:

• Gravity is a myth
• Instead of Gravity there is Dark Energy that accelerates the 'Earth-Sun-Moon' system upwards at 9.8m/s^2 through the space but it's stationary along it's rotational axis.

All the scientific facts are based on some experiments. Two of the most famous experiments to prove the Earth is flat are 'Bedford Level Experiment', 'Spirit Level Experiment'. 

Bedford Level Experiment:

Samuel Rowbotham in 1838 in Cambridgeshire, UK found a canal system beside Old Bedford River which looks like a straight line for almost 6miles. The experiment goes like following. He placed a telescope right above the surface of the water and used a boat which had a 1meter tall post on it. And the circumference is 25000miles. If the Earth is a sphere than after 1mile of journey the boat should dip 8inches into the horizon for the curvature. For 2 miles 32inches, for 6miles 24feet and so on like the picture below. After 6miles of observation he didn't find any changes therefore he concluded the Earth is flat. The following picture is taken from the book 'Zetetic Astronomy' written by Samuel Rowbotham.

Limitations of Bedford Level Experiment:

The major mistake Samuel did he ignored the refraction of light. Air density plays a vital role here which he ignored. Another real life example of this light refraction for different air density is a mirage in a desert. He completely forgot about the behavior of the light. For this issue this scientific experiment is considered as pseudoscience in the scientific community.

Spirit Level Experiment:

Firstly you need to take a spirit level on a airplane. While flying forward the airplane should bend a little bit in order to maintain the curvature of the Earth and the bubble in the spirit level won't remain in the same place. But if the Earth is flat it will remain same. And for obvious reasons you will see it remains same. 

Conclusion of Spirit Level Experiment:

So the experiment is legit right? Obviously No cause the centripetal force of the rotating plane won't allow the bubble to move. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

On the whole, this two experiments are like the Bible of the flat Earth model which are based on errors. Though it is pretty much obvious to most of us that the Earth is round, in the west this Flat Earth Society is getting stronger and bigger. It is really hilarious and sad at the same time that we went back to the Babylonian era at the 21st century.