[Delirious Lab]

How do you explain meridians on a flat earth?  Assuming nothing about the shape of the earth, let's define a meridian as the set of locations that experience the same time of day during the equinox.  We should all agree that on or around March 21 and September 22, people on a given meridian will all observe sunset and sunrise at the same time.

On a globe earth, this is pretty straightforward: a meridian is a half-great-circle joining the two poles.

On a flat earth, what is the shape of meridians?  Are they straight lines, or do they have some curve to them? If they are curved, how can the sun shed daylight on a convex area on one side of a meridian, but then light the opposite side 12 hours later (at equinox) which is concave?

[Suffragette]

If the earth is a disk (like a circle) with the north pole at its center, then a meridian would just be a radius of that circle, yes?   

[Suffragette]

No.

Why not?  Using the sphere earth as a reference, that certainly seems like what would happen in the flat model.  They radiate from the pole.

[StinkyOne]

No.

Why not?  Using the sphere earth as a reference, that certainly seems like what would happen in the flat model.  They radiate from the pole.

I'll try to be more specific than the ogre. If you take the Earth and make it flat, Meridians would be like curved spokes on a wheel. The issue is, if you take multiple cities that lie on the same meridian, their sun rise and set is at roughly the same time. On the globe, this works fine. On a supposed flat Earth, those cities would have differing sun rise/set times because the curved meridians put some cities further east or west then they actually are.

[Suffragette]

I'll try to be more specific than the ogre. If you take the Earth and make it flat, Meridians would be like curved spokes on a wheel. The issue is, if you take multiple cities that lie on the same meridian, their sun rise and set is at roughly the same time. On the globe, this works fine. On a supposed flat Earth, those cities would have differing sun rise/set times because the curved meridians put some cities further east or west then they actually are.

I think I am having trouble seeing why they would be curved.  By extending the south pole to the outside of the disk, the meridians should just form radii, which are straight lines.

[Rounder]

I'll try to be more specific than the ogre. If you take the Earth and make it flat, Meridians would be like curved spokes on a wheel. The issue is, if you take multiple cities that lie on the same meridian, their sun rise and set is at roughly the same time. On the globe, this works fine. On a supposed flat Earth, those cities would have differing sun rise/set times because the curved meridians put some cities further east or west then they actually are.

I think I am having trouble seeing why they would be curved.  By extending the south pole to the outside of the disk, the meridians should just form radii, which are straight lines.

Me too, they’re not curved on the map most commonly associated with the flat earth belief

[Curious Squirrel]

I'll try to be more specific than the ogre. If you take the Earth and make it flat, Meridians would be like curved spokes on a wheel. The issue is, if you take multiple cities that lie on the same meridian, their sun rise and set is at roughly the same time. On the globe, this works fine. On a supposed flat Earth, those cities would have differing sun rise/set times because the curved meridians put some cities further east or west then they actually are.

I think I am having trouble seeing why they would be curved.  By extending the south pole to the outside of the disk, the meridians should just form radii, which are straight lines.

Me too, they’re not curved on the map most commonly associated with the flat earth belief

I think Stinky has been spending too much time around Tom. Tom claims the bipolar map is the actual official FES map idea, and has been for about 100 years, since the discovery of the South Pole. That one has curved meridians. Some very interesting ones at that.

[Rounder]

Tom claims the bipolar map is the actual official FES map idea, and has been for about 100 years, since the discovery of the South Pole. That one has curved meridians. Some very interesting ones at that.

Well, if Tom would show us how the sun moves above that map it would be very interesting.

[StinkyOne]

I'll try to be more specific than the ogre. If you take the Earth and make it flat, Meridians would be like curved spokes on a wheel. The issue is, if you take multiple cities that lie on the same meridian, their sun rise and set is at roughly the same time. On the globe, this works fine. On a supposed flat Earth, those cities would have differing sun rise/set times because the curved meridians put some cities further east or west then they actually are.

I think I am having trouble seeing why they would be curved.  By extending the south pole to the outside of the disk, the meridians should just form radii, which are straight lines.

Me too, they’re not curved on the map most commonly associated with the flat earth belief

I think Stinky has been spending too much time around Tom. Tom claims the bipolar map is the actual official FES map idea, and has been for about 100 years, since the discovery of the South Pole. That one has curved meridians. Some very interesting ones at that.

No, I made the mistake of posting from work and wasn't 100% thinking about what I was writing. I think my thought process was trying to keep the spatial distances east-west the same without introducing the distortion of a flat map.

[Scroogie]

Tom claims the bipolar map is the actual official FES map idea, and has been for about 100 years, since the discovery of the South Pole. That one has curved meridians. Some very interesting ones at that.

Well, if Tom would show us how the sun moves above that map it would be very interesting.

BOOM!!! Precisely the burning question I have been asking myself ever since I (very recently) stumbled upon this site and subsequently found that wonderful bipolar map. The machinations and explanations required to accomplish that task would be absolutely hilarious to witness. That may even be the major reason why I am still here - the entertainment value obtained from that alone would be simply "out of this world".

Unfortunately for us bystanders and onlookers, that is extremely unlikely ever to happen. Or, on second thought, there might just be someone here possessed of sufficient hubris to give it a go. We can always hope.