Earth Shape Discussion thread.

[NSEP]

Oi peeps, this is a thread about discussing the Earth's shape.

Is it round?

Is it flat?

Is it an oblate spher?

Edited November 24, 2016 by NSEP

[Motokid600]

" i know that there are more threads like this" There are? Why? 

[NSEP]

7 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

" i know that there are more threads like this" There are? Why? 

There are more threads like this but they are all forgotten and i dont want to bring them back up in the front page because that would be confusing.

[p1t1o]

Whats to say that hasn't already been said?

"Look at this silly guy, he made a video about how the earth is flat lol!"

"Lol that is crazy, what does he say to X, Y & Z evidence of obvious roundness"

"Guys technically the earth is not a sphere…it an oblate spheroid lol"

"You can’t use proof or evidence against these guys…"

"To be fair guys, science is about keeping an open mind and advances are always made by people who push the boundaries"

"No this guy is a nut tho"

"Something something hitler something WWII"

"Perpetual motion!"

"Joke"

Etc.

[kerbiloid]

Yet can't realize are these people indeed so famous (heard about them once or twice before KSP forum), but what about this.

"Real" world is flat. Its chunks just appear from the chaos of indeterminacy when you, Observer, come into close proximity, and dissolve back into indeterminacy immediately when you change the current context (so called, "move"). Sun and Moon are just spots of light on your visual background antil you change your context from "on the Earth" to on the Moon". Then the Earth gets abstract, and while you're "on the Moon", the Earth (the colored spot on background) is anything you can imagine, with some probability.
 

(, just for case)

Edited November 24, 2016 by kerbiloid

[Motokid600]

4 hours ago, NSEP said:

There are more threads like this but they are all forgotten and i dont want to bring them back up in the front page because that would be confusing.

Yea but what's the point? We know the Earth is a sphere. A cult of nutters in some dark corner of the internet isn't going to change that. 

[cubinator]

We can discuss ways to prove Earth's shape and size, such as looking through binoculars at the horizon at different altitudes, or measuring shadows at different latitudes if you have friends far away. Or we can talk about what would happen to physics if Earth was a flat disk. The atmosphere would clump together into a spheroid around the center, among other interesting things. Also, theorized toroidal planets, which could be stable but extremely difficult to form naturally.

[kerbiloid]

Also we totally ignore the case when the Earth is flat not because it's flat, but because it's a face of a cubic world.

Spoiler

 

[NSEP]

2 hours ago, Motokid600 said:

Yea but what's the point? We know the Earth is a sphere. A cult of nutters in some dark corner of the internet isn't going to change that. 

To talk about people who believe the Earth is flat, not to talk with people who beloeve the Earth is flat.

Im gonna change the topic a bit now.

43 minutes ago, cubinator said:

We can discuss ways to prove Earth's shape and size, such as looking through binoculars at the horizon at different altitudes, or measuring shadows at different latitudes if you have friends far away. Or we can talk about what would happen to physics if Earth was a flat disk. The atmosphere would clump together into a spheroid around the center, among other interesting things. Also, theorized toroidal planets, which could be stable but extremely difficult to form naturally.

Yeah we could do that.

I love fantasizing about a flat earth, but i dont believe it.

I have an idea of a short story called Flat Earth pilot, wich is about somebody who believes the Earth is flat, and he gets the task to fly an airplane and navigate around the world. And stuff goes wrong.

Edited November 24, 2016 by NSEP

[0111narwhalz]

Obligatory XKCD: 

[p1t1o]

Something we could do if we got bored one day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_Cassus

[NSEP]

2 minutes ago, 0111narwhalz said:

Obligatory XKCD: 

I have seen that earlier.

[benzman]

It is an oblate spheroid that is a little uneven and bumpy.  How's THAT for scientific accuracy!

 

[razark]

I think it would be most accurate to say the the Earth is, in fact, rather Earth-shaped.

[cantab]

I can settle the question once and for all by means of making the Earth's shape expanding cloud of rubble.

[razark]

53 minutes ago, cantab said:

I can settle the question once and for all by means of making the Earth's shape expanding cloud of rubble.

Someone needs to take away your Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

[Guest]

Isn't it obvious?  Earth is not a sphere, flat, or any of those things.  I propose that it is instead a tesseract.  Just think of the possibilities!  It would certainly explain the differences in opinion.

[p1t1o]

If we could access the matrix, we could find out how many polygons are being rendered and define the shape mathematically!

[Camacha]

On 24/11/2016 at 6:02 PM, 0111narwhalz said:

Obligatory XKCD:

I am pretty sure that posting an XKCD comic without the alt text is one of the original sins.

[kerbiloid]

Yet, the terrestrial sky theme is not covered at all.

Everybody can throw a something up with speed >= 11.2 km/s and the something never falls down.
As we can easily calculate, this speed corresponds to maximum altitude 11200^₂/(2*9.81) ~= 6400 km.
So, this is a clear evidence that at 6400 km above the Earth surface there is a sky ceiling, which stops anything ramming into it.

Is it solid as crystal, as they thought in early times?
Of course, no! Then the scrap would fall down.

The real sky ceiling is slimy! Everything stick to it.