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How do you know the earth is round ?
Most people today accept that the earth is round, but many
would be hard put to defend this claim. After all, as seen from a casual stroll or even "from an airplane, the earth looks flat. Without resorting to pictures from space (which a conspiracy theorist might reject as fake), how can you prove that the earth is round ? This question was answered more than two thousand years ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (584-322 n.c.), who argued that one can see the earth's shape clearly during a lunar eclipse. As the moon passes under the earth's shadow, the shape of the shadow is always round. This effect might sometimes be produced by a flat dish, but not always. For example, the sun would sometimes strike the the dish edge on, producing a shadow in the shape of a straight line. Only a sphere will always produce a round shadow. For the unconvinced, Aristotle pointed out that travelers going north or
south saw new stars appear over the horizon ahead, while stars that had been visible disappeared under the horizon in the rear. Ships going out to sea disappeared hull first, whichever direction they took. These effects could be explained only by a round earth. As it turns out, the earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate spheroid, a sphere slightly flattened at its poles and slightly bulging at the equator.
English physicist Isaqc. Newton( 1642-1727) showed that this effect would result from the earth's rotation. However, Aristotle's conclusion, s till roughly correct, has been held by educated people ever since.
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Contributor's Note
This intel reflects only one of my activities. I also write about and/or have websites on Vespa Scooters, Lambretta Scooters, Hardy Banana plants, Medical memorabilia, reborn baby dolls and much more. Hope you enjoyed the read, Philip Davey
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The copyright for this content entitled "How do you know the earth is round ?" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This intel was contributed by Phildave
Phildave
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May, 2012
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