[rumpelstilskin]

1) What is the diameter (approximately) of the flat earth? The numbers I have read say something in the vicinity of 40000 to 45000 km. Is that correct?

2) Most maps I have seen show Australia and South America is roughly opposite sectors of the disc. This being the case, what would be a good estimate for the distance between Sydney and Santiago?

[Boots]

1) What is the diameter (approximately) of the flat earth? The numbers I have read say something in the vicinity of 40000 to 45000 km. Is that correct?

2) Most maps I have seen show Australia and South America is roughly opposite sectors of the disc. This being the case, what would be a good estimate for the distance between Sydney and Santiago?

• Very possibly infinite. At least 40, 000 Km.
• Around 15, 000 Km

[rumpelstilskin]

1) What is the diameter (approximately) of the flat earth? The numbers I have read say something in the vicinity of 40000 to 45000 km. Is that correct?

2) Most maps I have seen show Australia and South America is roughly opposite sectors of the disc. This being the case, what would be a good estimate for the distance between Sydney and Santiago?

• Very possibly infinite. At least 40, 000 Km.
• Around 15, 000 Km

Ok, so 1) makes sense, but how can 2) be correct? Sydney and Santiago are in opposite sectors, and both well into the southern hemisphere (>30 degrees). That would seem to suggest a distance of at least 25000km. How do you arrive at 15000km?

[Boots]

1) What is the diameter (approximately) of the flat earth? The numbers I have read say something in the vicinity of 40000 to 45000 km. Is that correct?

2) Most maps I have seen show Australia and South America is roughly opposite sectors of the disc. This being the case, what would be a good estimate for the distance between Sydney and Santiago?

• Very possibly infinite. At least 40, 000 Km.
• Around 15, 000 Km

Ok, so 1) makes sense, but how can 2) be correct? Sydney and Santiago are in opposite sectors, and both well into the southern hemisphere (>30 degrees). That would seem to suggest a distance of at least 25000km. How do you arrive at 15000km?

Direct East-West is a curved line x distance from the center. That is what you're calculating. An actual straight line would be less.

[rumpelstilskin]

Direct East-West is a curved line x distance from the center. That is what you're calculating. An actual straight line would be less.

No, I'm using straight line distances. Both Santiago and Sydney are in the southern hemisphere: if the diameter of the whole disk (to the Antarctic shelf) is 40000km, then the "northern hemisphere" inner disk has diameter around 20000km, and therefore the distance between two points in the southern hemisphere on opposite sides of the disk must be > 20000km. This is pretty straightforward, right?

[Boodysaspie]

I'm assuming that the distance from North to South pole is the same for FE and RE.

Sydney to the North pole is ~8500 miles, and North pole to Santiago is another 8500 miles. Therefore Sydney to Santiago is 17000 miles.

Qantas fly direct from Sydney to Santiago in 12hr 40 mins, which means that Jumbo Jets can cruise at mach 2 for over 12 hours without afterburners.

Oddly they can't match this performance when flying from New York to London.

In REaliTy the distance is about 7000 miles and Jumbos cruise at a more realistic 550mph.

[rumpelstilskin]

Dammit, you stole the punchline.

[Tom Haws]

at mach 2 for over 12 hours without afterburners.

Oddly they can't match this performance when flying from New York to London.

This is hilarious and deserves an award.

To add a bit of content and forestall objections by those who do not know the distance from New York to London, I will revise your delightful sentence to say that oddly they can't match this performance when flying from Los Angeles to New York or from Lisbon to Shanghai.

[devils advocate]

But would those who don't accept that the distances are known accept that MACH exists anyway? You can't "see it" and unless Tom has ever been an Air force Pilot he will never have experienced it.....we can hear crafts breaking the sound barrier IF we accept that the noise relates to MACH. For those who insist all space photo's/videos are fake the idea of having a loud BANG button fitted to fighter jets to make the pretence of MACH audible is a small step. As someone who doesn't believe aircraft manufacturers or pilots actually know how fast their planes fly anyway..............you get what I mean here. MACH could just end up the NASA conspiracy bucket.

[Tom Haws]

But would those who don't accept that the distances are known accept that MACH exists anyway?

Heh. Of course Boodysaspie just threw in the term Mach for comedic effect. The straight fact is that the plane would have to be flying ridiculously fast on some unobtainium fuel to make the scheduled flight times.