The Earth isn’t flat. This won’t come as news to you, and why should it?
We love it when you guys contact us and ask us questions and our team always try our best to answer everyone. However the one question asked of us more than all others is if the the Earth is flat. At first we were a little incredulous that this was even questioned in this century but it crops up again and again. So we saw an opportunity for an article and hopefully explore this rather puzzling question.
Earth’s roughly spherical nature has been known about since the time of the Ancient Greeks. It’s bewildering, then, to see various "celebrities" declaring online that Earth is indeed flat, claiming that NASA has been keeping this secret from us for decades. So what exactly is going on here?
Most recently, Shaquille O’Neal, an American rapper and basketball player, has effused a series of utterly ridiculous claims on the Inside the NBA show. B.o.B another rapper, also stated on Twitter some extremely wild claims. Although he began with talk of human cloning centers, he quickly turned his focus to the idea that we are all resting on a relatively two-dimensional world drifting through space like a cosmic Frisbee. Famed astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson was quick to respond.
The two subsequently engaged in a rap battle for either side, which should give you some insight as to how absurd the entire conversation is. While it's pretty effortless to prove Earth isn’t flat, that hasn’t stopped madcap conspiracy theories cropping up – B.o.B is just another peon in the ranks of the International Flat Earth Society.
Modern flat Earth societies date from the middle of the 20th century; some adherents are serious and some are not. These organisations are based on the archaic belief that the Earth is flat. In 2010, its president said that he accepts the science of both man-made climate change and evolution, but when it comes to Earth, he’s convinced it’s flat.
The society’s members, who also believe that the Sun and Moon are just 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) above us, have never quite explained the motives behind a huge conspiracy theory to hide the fact that Earth is flat. Who would benefit from such a comprehensive cover-up?
People are drawn to conspiracy theories, though, and the Internet has only helped to accelerate their spread. They give certain people a sense of security, control and comfort that they haven’t found in the natural world around them. By only conversing with others that agree with them in “echo chambers,” any opposing views are filtered out, and they become increasingly entrenched in their own views. Perhaps this is what drives contemporary Flat Earthers.
Stars and Shadows
Today, NASA and other space agencies have built up a beautiful library of images of Earth, clearly showing that it is round – or technically a bumpy spheroid, an uneven sphere with a bulge at its Equator. Naturally, Flat Earthers always assume that these images are photoshopped. Fortunately, there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate the Earth’s sphericalness.
A Greek astronomer by the name of Eratosthenes clearly showed Earth was round just over 2,000 years ago. He realized that rays of sunlight are hitting Earth at the same degree, but because Earth has a curvature, the length of shadows at different locations across Earth aren’t the same.
By calculating this shadow length change between two cities – Alexandria and Syene – he gave an estimate for the circumference of the Earth: 46,620 kilometers (28,970 miles), which is only 16 percent larger than the actual value.
Flat Earthers often say that access to Antarctica is restricted for our own safety; if we crossed over this icy ring around the edge of the flat disk, we’d fall off into space. Of course, humanity has circumnavigated the globe plenty of times, and no-one’s fallen off into infinite darkness just yet.
If you look up into the sky and spot a star, you can track its position every night. If you then begin to move forwards towards the horizon, you’ll notice the star appearing further behind you each and every night. If Earth was flat, you’d be able to always see it. Since Earth is round, this star will eventually sink and disappear below the horizon.
Lunar eclipse shows the curved edges of the Earth
Quick ways to see the Earths spheroid state for yourself
There are photos of the earth from the Apollo missions and the DSCOVR satellite. (I know that FE proponents like to call 'fake' , but I haven't seen any convincing evidence of that.
A compass wouldn't do what you describe at the geographic south pole. (In response to using a compass at the geographic south pole to prove it's there). The Magnetic south pole is in the ocean now, from McMurdo (77deg south) a compass shows magnetic south to be almost due north.
I have had friends fly south from South America to the south pole, then fly north to McMurdo, where I met them having flown south from NZ. Not sure that this could work with any current flat earth map! (In response to flying a north/south circumnavigation)
Curvature is more apparent if you're in a good place to notice it; sailing away from land and watching the lower (closer) parts disappear first - beach, low hills then higher hills. It's also noticeable when the sun sets for you standing at sea level, but is still clearly shinning strongly on the high mountains off to the east. This shows that lower lying areas loose the sun sooner than higher places; evidence of the curved earth, but not explainable with a flat earth.
It's Fundamental Physics
All planets in our Solar System – and the thousands of exoplanets we’ve discovered far beyond our little corner of the galaxy – are roughly spherical. It’s a fundamental feature of physics; celestial bodies of a significant mass are spherical due to the effect of gravity, which acts in all directions to pull objects towards the center of mass.
And if any more proof was needed, we also have seasons and ice ages. The amount of sunlight hitting parts of the planet changes from season to season, from icehouse world to greenhouse world, and this is entirely dependent on the degree of tilt a spherical Earth has with respect to the Sun.
Ultimately, it is probably due to the fact that it is so self-evident that Earth is not flat that people are talking so much about Shaq’s recent epiphany.
Minor pockets of flat Earth activists has existed for a long time and continues to do so today. Initially dismissed as mere parody, many well-known celebrities, musicians, artists, and athlete have revealed that they believe the earth is flat, including Tila Tequila, B. o. B and Kyrie Irving. Now it looks like Shaq might be joining that crew.
Shaquille O’Neal use to be a famous rapper and basketball player. Among his many victories and awards, he has been an NBA champion four times and got the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2000. His rap album Shaq Diesel has sold platinum. O’Neal currently works on the Inside the NBA show as a basketball commentator and analyst and hosts his own podcast called The Big Podcast with Shaq.
Flat Earth argument
Why did Shaquille O’Neal claim that the Earth is flat?
In the podcast episode “Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett talk NBA and Area 21, plus Shaq sounds off on the Boogie Cousins trade and WrestleMania” that aired on Feb 27, 2017, O’Neal made the following statement (starting at ~09:25). Because it is a little bit difficult to tell the two other guys in the podcast apart, I have just written
“Interlocutor” when someone else is talking.
Interlocutor: What did you make of the Kyrie stuff?
Shaquille O’Neal: I don’t…It’s true…
Interlocutor: What?!
O’Neal: The Earth is flat.
Interlocutor: Shaq, what are you talking about?
O’Neal: The Earth is flat.
Interlocutor: No it’s not.
O’Neal: Yeah, it is.
Interlocutor: No it’s not.
O’Neal: It is.
Interlocutor: No. It’s not.
O’Neal: Listen. There are three ways to manipulate the mind. What you read, what you see and what you hear.
Interlocutor: Conspiracies.
O’Neal: In school, the first thing they teach us is “Oh, Columbus discovered America, but when he got there, there were some fair-skinned people with the long hair smoking out of peace pipes…” So what does that tell you?! Columbus did not discover America!
Interlocutor: He found somewhere place people already lived.
O’Neal: I drive from coast to coast, and this [bleep] is flat to me [laughter breaks out among the rest]. Just saying.
Interlocutor: Okay, that is the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. That is the dumbest thing you’ve ever said.
O’Neal: I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me.
Interlocutor: 92 podcasts, and that is the dumbest thing you’ve said and that is a high bar to get over.
O’Neal: I do not go up and down in a 360 degree angle..
Interlocutor: Are you kidding me?
O’Neal: …and all that stuff about gravity…have you looked outside Atlanta and seen all these buildings? You mean to tell me that China is under us? China is under us?
Interlocutor: If you dug straight through your backyard, you can get to China.
O’Neal: No, you can’t. The Earth is flat.
Interlocutor: The Earth is not flat.
O’Neal: Yes, it is.
Interlocutor: We have seen the Earth.
O’Neal: We have not seen anything.
Interlocutor: Yes you have, you have seen it from satellite imagery.
O’Neal: Oh? Satellite imagery? That could be drawn and made up.
You can listen to the full podcast here. The Flat Earth discussion starts around the 9:20 mark.