does sperical ie [ the earth]

[dave m]

my workmate says the earth is SPERICAL he says this means the earth has flats on its axis,i think hes soo wrong...i mean the earth spinning on its 2 flats is ridiculous..... thx in advance and a answer asap would b greatfully appreciated

[magicdice]

the earth is an oblate spheroid, i.e. a sphere with a circumference across the equator that is slightly larger than the circumference over the poles. this is, if i recall correctly, due to the spin of the earth. i think it applies to most other planets too.

[Clanad]

I think the word you're searching for is actually spherical, but, regardless, your friend is correct.  The earth is shown to be a flattened sphere... check here for verification...

http://www.rovaniemi.fi/lapinkavijat/maupertuis/shape.html

[Peter Pedant]

yeah flattened sphere or as the fella put it above: oblate spheroid

[Loosehead]

Yes it is an oblate spheroid, it is worth pointing out though that the bulge is negligable. If you viewed it from space it would be imperceptable. It does'nt have "Flats on it's axis" but it is a slightly, very slightly flattened sphere.

[landie]

Sorry but why 'as soon as possible' do you know something that we don't. Is the world going to end tomorrow?

[MargeB]

Magicdice is correct. If you look at photographs of igloos, polarbears, or penguins, the background is completely flat, not rounded like everywhere else, and this is because the earth is flat at the poles.

[Loosehead]

Get real Marge, If it was completely flat then there'd be a massive circular ridge somewhere when it decides to curve again. It is negligably flatter not flat.

[MargeB]

I think you'll find there is a ridge on some photographs, but not in others. If it is flat there of course it will show up on the photos.

[Loosehead]

What am I saying? the whole world's flat! Don't go to the edge or you'll fall off.

[MargeB]

That's correct.

Get off your seat.

Stand in the middle of the room.

Jump in the air as high as you can.

Notice that you land in the same place.

Now, if the earth was a big spinning ball like they say it is, you would land over to the side a bit.

Also, if you drive for ages and ages, you'll notice that despite the odd hill, you're basically always over flattish  land. This is because the earth isn't curved. It's flat.

Global Sphericalism, in which my faith does not believe, is an elaborate hoax started many years ago. You just accept it through blind faith. You've never seen that the earth is round with your own eyes, have you??? Well? Have you?

[Loosehead]

Oh Dear Marge, ok same thing stand on the roof of a train doing 50mph jump up in the air does the train move under you a bit? No because you are also moving at 50 when you jump you are going up and down relative to the train but to a stationary observer you are actually jumping in a curve. Ask Albert, all about relativity, same with the Earth.

[MargeB]

Incorrect.

I will obviously not stand on the roof of a train, for safety reasons, and I hope this stunt is not carried out by younger members of the Answerbank.  However, I have seen movies, where there are chases by people on the roof of the trains, and it is clear that where one person lets go, they go flying off the roof of the train backwards, and they do not hover in mid air over the train as your clever 'theory' suggests. Think again.

[MargeB]

I have stood beside people in trains, and if I jump up and down it is clear that if they stay still I will only go up and down. You are suggesting that this looks like a curve to them? What planet does this happen on?

[Loosehead]

OK Marge I can see I'm going to have to spell it out.

You are standing on the plaform, I am on the roof of the train as it passes through the station. if you film me jumping up and down and then take each frame and plot where I am say put a dot where my head is you will see the path of the dot is a curve.

If you are beside the person in the train as you put it then you are moving with them so they just go up and down to you.

When you are standing on the train you are going at 0 relative to the train and 50 (say) relative to the station. So if you jump up you started at 50.

Speed is relative always. How fast are you going sitting at your computer? 0? yes relative to the floor but 60,000 relative to the sun.

Why does'nt that wasp in your car just hist the back window?

It's not my "clever" theory its fact it's called relativity, the bedrock of a lot of physics.

Are we learning yet?

Can someone else confirm this, I don't think I'm getting through!

[MargeB]

I can see the sun in the sky right now! It's moving, but I would say at about 1mph, max. Not 60,000! Where do you get that from???

[Loosehead]

we orbit the sun once a year the radius of that orbit is 93 million miles, thats roughly 584 million miles around. to do that in 1 year means 1.6 million miles a day = 64000 mph.

Now the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy and the Galaxy is part of a local cluster.....

[CT]

You can see the curve of the earth with your own eyes. All you need is to be somewhere with a long horizon that is not obstructed. I read that someone saw it on holiday by the sea. Thet lined up the ends of their balcony rail with the sea horizon. From this point they could see the sea in front of them above the rail. Hence, the curvature of the earth.

[MargeB]

Maybe  the balcony was curving up. It hardly sounds like controlled conditions.

Relativity is bs. You need to start with a preferential frame just to start talking about speed in the first place. If the only absolute is the speed of light then against what distance is that measured from?

[Loosehead]

Congratulations Marge, Flat Earth, Relativity is B*&^%t. I am truly amazed at how you can live so long knowing so little. I bet you think that thunder is 2 clouds banging together! and there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. So how fast do you think the Earth needs to move to get around the sun then? Oh sorry just realised the earth is the centre of the universe and the sun orbits the Earth! Copernicus what does he know!

[MargeB]

I missed out on an education Loosehead.

Do you accept Alfred Einstein's Theory of General Relativity? Fully?

Which preferential frame do you start with to establish what speed means? Hmm? Now that you have lived so long and know so much, kindly explain that chestnut.