[lemur]

Samm, on 11 December 2010 - 09:48 AM, said:

The question is, how do you know the earth is flat, if that's the case?

swansont, on 11 December 2010 - 10:47 AM, said:

But this is science, and so what we do is test this idea. We find that neither electric nor magnetic fields do this to photons.

Look, I don't really think the Earth is flat. What I do with an idea like this is to "see how far I can get with it," as I mentioned in my earlier post. I'm perfectly aware that there are a million valid science-based reasons that can disprove that the Earth is flat, so when you guys jump in trying to prove me wrong I can't understand that. OBVIOUSLY you can prove me wrong if I claim the Earth is flat, so why do it?

Having said that, how would you know that magnetism doesn't affect light in this way if all the tests performed were done within the magnetic field that causes curved lines to appear straight?

[Samm]

lemur, on 11 December 2010 - 05:56 PM, said:

Look, I don't really think the Earth is flat. What I do with an idea like this is to "see how far I can get with it," as I mentioned in my earlier post. I'm perfectly aware that there are a million valid science-based reasons that can disprove that the Earth is flat, so when you guys jump in trying to prove me wrong I can't understand that. OBVIOUSLY you can prove me wrong if I claim the Earth is flat, so why do it?

Yeah, I know, I'm just saying that if that's the case the only grounds you can claim for the Earth being flat seem to be fallacious. But anyway, it's enjoyable thinking about the number of natural laws that would have to be violated/modified to accommodate a flat earth.

lemur, on 11 December 2010 - 05:56 PM, said:

Having said that, how would you know that magnetism doesn't affect light in this way if all the tests performed were done within the magnetic field that causes curved lines to appear straight?

I don't imagine you would, unless you managed to step outside the magnetic field.

This post has been edited by Samm: 12 December 2010 - 12:25 AM

[lemur]

Samm, on 12 December 2010 - 12:24 AM, said:

I don't imagine you would, unless you managed to step outside the magnetic field.

Well, if the magnetic field contained light emissions, first causing the (flat) Earth to appear curved, then spherical, it would appear to completely disappear by the time you actually escaped it. This could be confused with achieving a very large distance, if you assumed that the spherism was caused by Earth's actual shape instead of the magnetic bending of the light at increasing altitude.

If (flat) Earth had multiple magnetic fields, you could get stuck retracing the same routes around on section of it using a compass, while other people in other sections/regions could have their own magnetic field causing them to traverse the same routes around their "sphere." The question would be how to find a route between two distinct magnetic regions.

[Samm]

lemur, on 12 December 2010 - 12:35 AM, said:

Well, if the magnetic field contained light emissions, first causing the (flat) Earth to appear curved, then spherical, it would appear to completely disappear by the time you actually escaped it. This could be confused with achieving a very large distance, if you assumed that the spherism was caused by Earth's actual shape instead of the magnetic bending of the light at increasing altitude.

If (flat) Earth had multiple magnetic fields, you could get stuck retracing the same routes around on section of it using a compass, while other people in other sections/regions could have their own magnetic field causing them to traverse the same routes around their "sphere." The question would be how to find a route between two distinct magnetic regions.

Lets say you do experiments based on light, assuming it travels in straight lines on the flat Earth. When you exit the magnetic field the same experiments would give different results, and that would be how to tell if the magnetic field was bending the light. Then you'd know that something was a little weird. In theory, you may be able to back-calculate, based on a coefficient of bendiness, the amount the light bends and hence explore the regions that were previously though inaccessible.

I ask if the magnetic field is responsible for the Earth appearing spherical, why does it get stronger the further you are away from it? Spherical > Curved.

[lemur]

Samm, on 12 December 2010 - 01:24 AM, said:

Lets say you do experiments based on light, assuming it travels in straight lines on the flat Earth. When you exit the magnetic field the same experiments would give different results, and that would be how to tell if the magnetic field was bending the light. Then you'd know that something was a little weird. In theory, you may be able to back-calculate, based on a coefficient of bendiness, the amount the light bends and hence explore the regions that were previously though inaccessible.

Fun discussion. I don't know how you would be able to control for the magnetic field and know when it was ending. If Earth's magnetic field created a general margin of error in measuring magnetism within it, we would assume that the equations we had observed for magnetism were independent of the surrounding magnetic field when they were, in fact, not. So, maybe no one had ever transcended Earth's magnetic field. Maybe astronauts have only reached increasing distances within it.

Quote

I ask if the magnetic field is responsible for the Earth appearing spherical, why does it get stronger the further you are away from it? Spherical > Curved.

Hmmm, are you saying that "curved" is different than "spherical" at a distance? Are you saying that the curvature couldn't appear as a horizon with "empty space" surrounding that horizon? If Earth was flat, and it was the magnetic field making it appear curved and ultimately spherical, could "space" just be the stretched-out horizon between the distant ground/ocean and sky?

[HerpetologyFangirl]

O.o Damn... My mind is utterly boggled... No wonder I failed my first-year Physics class... O.o

[Luminance]

Initially, I thought it was a cult but guessed I was wrong. It's merely a flat space for flat trolling.

[xxSilverPhinxx]

I find the site hilarious. Registered.

[dnt4gett]

i also thinks like sisphosy
and my question is also of this kind. Do flat earthers even believe in gravity? What if they think it's not masses attracting, but just a universal "down" force?or something else?

[Suxamethonium]

Hmmm, I can understand why looking at or seeing the earth as round alone seems inconclusive when you can see all sorts of weird effects in space caused by things such as black holes... however, the fact that you can fly around the earth in either direction and reach your destination should render as conclusive evidence.

[Tausami]

Suxamethonium, on 22 January 2012 - 10:05 AM, said:

Hmmm, I can understand why looking at or seeing the earth as round alone seems inconclusive when you can see all sorts of weird effects in space caused by things such as black holes... however, the fact that you can fly around the earth in either direction and reach your destination should render as conclusive evidence.

Did you miss the part about the Earth being a disk?

[Suxamethonium]

I mean like From Sydney I could fly out towards America and keep going to get to England. Or I could fly out over Singapore, over India and get to england- you couldn't fly over the America way without flying over other countries if the earth was a disc.

This post has been edited by Suxamethonium: 9 April 2012 - 12:30 AM