Perhaps the most impressive experiment that even schools can do today is to send a camera up in a high-altitude balloon. The solution is to use multiple markers along the length of the canal which, when observed, all appear to be at different heights. The problem is this doesn't take into account the optical effect of the air over the intervening water, which bends or 'refracts' the light as it travels from the marker to the telescope and makes it look like they are the same height. Modern day Flat Earth theorists still quote this experiment. But it was reported that the markers are the same height, suggesting the Earth is actually flat. If the Earth is round, then one marker should appear lower than the other when viewed at the same time through a telescope because the furthest marker would have fallen away with the curvature of the Earth. This experiment involved placing a marker at a set height at either end of a canal about six miles long.

One common example is the Bedford Level experiment, a form of which was first carried out in 1838 and used to 'prove' the Earth was flat for over 30 years before an explanation was found. If they are shared through social media, these false ideas can be spread quickly with no one to point out their flaws. Fake scienceīut when science experiments are performed incorrectly they can appear to give the opposite result. The chance that most of the planets are spherical but the Earth is flat seems very unlikely. They all rotate, and watching over the course of a few days gives a clear picture they are spherical rather than flat. This can be made even easier by simply comparing when it is night and day in each country. If the Earth were flat, the view should be the same. The view is completely different because the Earth beneath you is pointing in a different direction. They managed to get it to within 10% of the true value – not bad for around 250 B.C.Īnother piece of evidence for a globe is the difference between the night skies in the northern and southern hemispheres. They then used the difference in these angles to calculate the circumference of the Earth. The ancient Greeks found the shadows were different because the Earth was curved and so the sticks were at different angles. If the Earth were flat then both sticks should show the same shadow (or lack of) because they would be positioned at the same angle towards the sun.

Facts that prove the earth is flat