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Flat Earth Theory / How the Earth Moves (Round Earther)
« on: December 25, 2020, 05:17:18 AM »
Hello! My name is Jake, and I am currently working on my PhD in Physics at Purdue University. I am actually writing my thesis paper on gravitation — specifically relating General Relativity and Quantum Gravitation which are two distinct ideas with numerous contradictions.
For a long time, I have always viewed Flat Earthers as ignorant. After listening to some of their views and beliefs, however, I have come to realize that perhaps they are just misinformed and/or confused.
The universe is an incredibly complicated place, filled to the brim with mysteries that humanity may never understand. That being said, it’s understandable that there will be people who question things.
I don’t view Flat Earthers as uneducated, as both Round Earthers and Flat Earthers share the same curiosity! We all just want to understand the universe around us, and I respect everyone who has that drive to learn and seek truth.
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Moving on to the title of this post, I would like to cover something interesting I heard when listening to a Flat Earth livestream.
I noticed that one of the rebuttals that Flat Earthers often bring up, is the idea that the Sun is moving in the universe and how they don’t think this makes any sense. I mean, how could the sun be moving in the universe while the Earth simultaneously revolves around the Sun?Wouldn’t this mean that the Earth would be revolving around the Sun, while also being dragged around by the Sun as it moves in the universe?
This is a very valid point, and for the average person who isn’t incredibly familiar with the principles of gravitation, there is nothing wrong with being skeptical about this! In fact, I think it’s wonderful that people are trying to disprove the common belief. After all, nobody believed Einstein when he published his theory on Relativity since it contradicted everything we thought we knew.
As I am writing my thesis on gravitation, I thought I might answer this question for you all in a way anyone can understand!
Please note, I am going to do my best to explain this while relating to the beliefs of a Flat Earther and will omit as much math as I can.
—————————————————————
One thing that the Flat Earthers agree on, is the fact that other planets and stars are spherical — since we can easily observe them ourselves without the help of the government and private organizations.
Going on this same line of thought, we know that black holes exist because of the picture we have taken of one! Even without the picture, we know that the force of gravity is not a constant throughout the universe since it is common knowledge that our Moon has less of a gravitational attraction than the Earth (this is true even if the Earth is flat since obviously the Moon isn’t crashing into us haha). So, if the gravitational force objects in the universe exert isn’t a constant, then it must also be possible that there must be an object that exerts a gravitational force so large that nothing can escape its pull — including light!
We can (and have) actually physically see that light can be manipulated by gravity. This can be done during any solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the Sun. If we use very precise equipment and look at the sun during the eclipse, we can observe that there are stars around it! The stars aren’t actually around the Sun, in fact, they are behind the Sun. We see them because the Sun’s gravity warps the light of those stars just enough to display them around it.
From observation alone, we can also deduce that we live in a spiral galaxy (Milky Way), and that there are millions of other galaxies of all shapes and sizes out there in the universe. We have seen other spiral galaxies, and simply looking at them we see that they have an apparent center. Around the centers, we see a ‘circular’ configuration of billions of stars that looks almost like a vortex, and given enough time we also observe these galaxies to be spinning around the center kind of like a pinwheel. The fact that the galaxies we see are not falling apart and flying everywhere indicates that there must be a force at the center of that galaxy holding all of the stars together.
We know all of this to be true even if we consider the Earth to be flat since we can easily observe these things for ourselves (just be careful if you are trying to look for stars during a solar eclipse).
Continuing on the same line of thought, if we see these stars are being held together in formation (even if you don’t believe the force is gravity) it is evident that there IS a force.
Now, thinking back to the things on Earth, how can we visualize this? Imagine you are standing on a merry-go-round that is spinning, and your shoes are physically glued to the surface of the merry-go-round. As you spin faster and faster, you’ll notice that you will not be flung off of the merry-go-round because your feet are glued to the surface. Instead of flying off, you will feel yourself being held in place by the resistive force of the glue. Your body will be wanting to fly off the edge, however the glue will keep you in place by exerting a force on your feet toward the center of the merry-go-round. The same thing is happening with the stars in these galaxies.
The stars aren’t being flung off in the vastness of space because they are constantly being pulled toward the center of the galaxy as they revolve around it. This attraction must therefore be due to the object at the center of the galaxy. (We believe this to be a supermassive black hole, however I’m explaining this from an observation standpoint alone so nobody makes the argument that since we can’t see anything ourselves, the government is making it up)
From basic physics that has been proved experimentally time and time again here on Earth, we know that if we have a disk that is spinning, and glue 2 objects next to each other at the edge of this spinning disk, they will revolve around the center of that disk with the same angular velocity. Regardless of the position of these two objects on the disk, whether it be up, down, left, right of each other, they will always have the same angular velocity relative to the center of the disk.
That being said, it makes sense that the velocity of the Earth around the Milky Way is the same as the velocity of the Sun. Which means, if we know the Sun to be ‘revolving’ about the center of our galaxy — assuming our galaxy is no different from the millions of other galaxies in the universe — then it isn’t the Sun that is ‘dragging’ the Earth around in space, it is simply the scenario of the spinning disk in which the Earth and the Sun are the two objects ‘revolving’ at equal angular velocities. So even if the Earth is revolving around the Sun, that will not have any effect on the way it moves in space relative to the center of our galaxy and the linear/angular motion of our Sun.
—————————————————————
I tried my best to explain this in a way Flat Earthers could understand, sorry if some things seem confusing, it’s difficult to explain these things without math.
For a long time, I have always viewed Flat Earthers as ignorant. After listening to some of their views and beliefs, however, I have come to realize that perhaps they are just misinformed and/or confused.
The universe is an incredibly complicated place, filled to the brim with mysteries that humanity may never understand. That being said, it’s understandable that there will be people who question things.
I don’t view Flat Earthers as uneducated, as both Round Earthers and Flat Earthers share the same curiosity! We all just want to understand the universe around us, and I respect everyone who has that drive to learn and seek truth.
————————————————————
Moving on to the title of this post, I would like to cover something interesting I heard when listening to a Flat Earth livestream.
I noticed that one of the rebuttals that Flat Earthers often bring up, is the idea that the Sun is moving in the universe and how they don’t think this makes any sense. I mean, how could the sun be moving in the universe while the Earth simultaneously revolves around the Sun?Wouldn’t this mean that the Earth would be revolving around the Sun, while also being dragged around by the Sun as it moves in the universe?
This is a very valid point, and for the average person who isn’t incredibly familiar with the principles of gravitation, there is nothing wrong with being skeptical about this! In fact, I think it’s wonderful that people are trying to disprove the common belief. After all, nobody believed Einstein when he published his theory on Relativity since it contradicted everything we thought we knew.
As I am writing my thesis on gravitation, I thought I might answer this question for you all in a way anyone can understand!
Please note, I am going to do my best to explain this while relating to the beliefs of a Flat Earther and will omit as much math as I can.
—————————————————————
One thing that the Flat Earthers agree on, is the fact that other planets and stars are spherical — since we can easily observe them ourselves without the help of the government and private organizations.
Going on this same line of thought, we know that black holes exist because of the picture we have taken of one! Even without the picture, we know that the force of gravity is not a constant throughout the universe since it is common knowledge that our Moon has less of a gravitational attraction than the Earth (this is true even if the Earth is flat since obviously the Moon isn’t crashing into us haha). So, if the gravitational force objects in the universe exert isn’t a constant, then it must also be possible that there must be an object that exerts a gravitational force so large that nothing can escape its pull — including light!
We can (and have) actually physically see that light can be manipulated by gravity. This can be done during any solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the Sun. If we use very precise equipment and look at the sun during the eclipse, we can observe that there are stars around it! The stars aren’t actually around the Sun, in fact, they are behind the Sun. We see them because the Sun’s gravity warps the light of those stars just enough to display them around it.
From observation alone, we can also deduce that we live in a spiral galaxy (Milky Way), and that there are millions of other galaxies of all shapes and sizes out there in the universe. We have seen other spiral galaxies, and simply looking at them we see that they have an apparent center. Around the centers, we see a ‘circular’ configuration of billions of stars that looks almost like a vortex, and given enough time we also observe these galaxies to be spinning around the center kind of like a pinwheel. The fact that the galaxies we see are not falling apart and flying everywhere indicates that there must be a force at the center of that galaxy holding all of the stars together.
We know all of this to be true even if we consider the Earth to be flat since we can easily observe these things for ourselves (just be careful if you are trying to look for stars during a solar eclipse).
Continuing on the same line of thought, if we see these stars are being held together in formation (even if you don’t believe the force is gravity) it is evident that there IS a force.
Now, thinking back to the things on Earth, how can we visualize this? Imagine you are standing on a merry-go-round that is spinning, and your shoes are physically glued to the surface of the merry-go-round. As you spin faster and faster, you’ll notice that you will not be flung off of the merry-go-round because your feet are glued to the surface. Instead of flying off, you will feel yourself being held in place by the resistive force of the glue. Your body will be wanting to fly off the edge, however the glue will keep you in place by exerting a force on your feet toward the center of the merry-go-round. The same thing is happening with the stars in these galaxies.
The stars aren’t being flung off in the vastness of space because they are constantly being pulled toward the center of the galaxy as they revolve around it. This attraction must therefore be due to the object at the center of the galaxy. (We believe this to be a supermassive black hole, however I’m explaining this from an observation standpoint alone so nobody makes the argument that since we can’t see anything ourselves, the government is making it up)
From basic physics that has been proved experimentally time and time again here on Earth, we know that if we have a disk that is spinning, and glue 2 objects next to each other at the edge of this spinning disk, they will revolve around the center of that disk with the same angular velocity. Regardless of the position of these two objects on the disk, whether it be up, down, left, right of each other, they will always have the same angular velocity relative to the center of the disk.
That being said, it makes sense that the velocity of the Earth around the Milky Way is the same as the velocity of the Sun. Which means, if we know the Sun to be ‘revolving’ about the center of our galaxy — assuming our galaxy is no different from the millions of other galaxies in the universe — then it isn’t the Sun that is ‘dragging’ the Earth around in space, it is simply the scenario of the spinning disk in which the Earth and the Sun are the two objects ‘revolving’ at equal angular velocities. So even if the Earth is revolving around the Sun, that will not have any effect on the way it moves in space relative to the center of our galaxy and the linear/angular motion of our Sun.
—————————————————————
I tried my best to explain this in a way Flat Earthers could understand, sorry if some things seem confusing, it’s difficult to explain these things without math.