Proof The Earth Is Not Flat
Before you debate a
flat earth believer, you have to know what they believe in to debate
him. Here are just 10 of the many reasons why why believe in a flat
earth. Then, you have to be able to disprove it. IF you can't, well
then...you might have to change your beliefs.
The following is a
verbatim copy of A hundred proofs the Earth is Not a Globe by
William Carpenter (1885).
1 The aeronaut can see
for himself that Earth is a Plane. The appearance presented to him,
even at the highest elevation he has ever attained, is that of a
concave surface - this being exactly what is to be expected of a
surface that is truly level, since it is the nature of level surfaces
to appear to rise to a level with the eye of the observer. This is
ocular demonstration and proof that Earth is not a globe.
2 Whenever experiments
have been tried on the surface of standing water, this surface has
always been found to be level. If the Earth were a globe, the surface
of all standing water would be convex. This is an experimental proof
that Earth is not a globe.
3 Surveyors'
operations in the construction of railroads, tunnels, or canals are
conducted without the slightest "allowance" being made for
"curvature," although it is taught that this so-called
allowance is absolutely necessary! This is a cutting proof that Earth
is not a globe.
4 There are rivers
that flow for hundreds of miles towards the level of the sea without
falling more than a few feet - notably, the Nile, which, in a
thousand miles, falls but a foot. A level expanse of this extent is
quite incompatible with the idea of the Earth's "convexity."
It is, therefore, a reasonable proof that Earth is not a globe.
5 The lights which are
exhibited in lighthouses are seen by navigators at distances at
which, according to the scale of the supposed "curvature"
given by astronomers, they ought to be many hundreds of feet, in some
cases, down below the line of sight! For instance: the light at Cape
Hatteras is seen at such a distance (40 miles) that, according. to
theory, it ought to be nine-hundred feet higher above the level of
the sea than it absolutely is, in order to be visible! This is a
conclusive proof that there is no "curvature," on the
surface of the sea - "the level of the sea,"- ridiculous
though it is to be under the necessity of proving it at all: but it
is, nevertheless, a conclusive proof that the Earth is not a globe.
6 If we stand on the
sands of the sea-shore and watch a ship approach us, we shall find
that she will apparently "rise" - to the extent, of her own
height, nothing more. If we stand upon an eminence, the same law
operates still; and it is but the law of perspective, which causes
objects, as they approach us, to appear to increase in size until we
see them, close to us, the size they are in fact. That there is no
other "rise" than the one spoken of is plain from the fact
that, no matter how high we ascend above the level of the sea, the
horizon rises on and still on as we rise, so that it is always on a
level with the eye, though it be two-hundred miles away, as seen by
Mr. J. Glaisher, of England, from Mr. Coxwell's balloon. So that a
ship five miles away may be imagined to be "coming up" the
imaginary downward curve of the Earth's surface, but if we merely
ascend a hill such as Federal Hill, Baltimore, we may see
twenty-!five miles away, on a level with the eye - that is, twenty
miles level distance beyond the ship that we vainly imagined to be "
rounding the curve," and "coming up!" This is a plain
proof that the Earth is not a globe.
7 If we take a trip
down the Chesapeake Bay, in the day-time, we may see for ourselves
the utter fallacy of the idea that when a vessel appears "hull
down," as it is called, it is because the hull is "behind
the water:" for, vessels, have been seen, and may often be seen
- again, presenting the appearance spoken of, and away - far away -
beyond those vessels, and, at the same moment, the level shore line,
with its accompanying complement of tall trees towering up, in
perspective, over the heads of the "hull-down" ships!
Since, then, the idea will not stand its ground when the facts rise
up against it, and it is a piece of the popular theory, the theory is
a contemptible piece of business, and we may easily wring from it a
proof that Earth is not a globe.
8 If the Earth were a
globe, a small model globe would be the very best - because the
truest - thing for the. navigator to take to sea with him. But such a
thing as that is not known: with such a toy as a guide, the mariner
would wreck his ship, of a certainty!, This is a proof that Earth is
not a globe.
9 As mariners take to
sea with them charts constructed as though the sea were a level
surface, however these charts may err as to the true form of this
level surface taken as a whole, it is clear, as they find them answer
their purpose tolerably well - and only tolerably for many ships are
wrecked owing to the error of which we speak - that the surface of
the sea is as it is taken to be, whether the captain of the ship
"supposes" the Earth to be a globe or anything else. Thus,
then, we draw, from the common system of "plane sailing," a
practical proof that Earth is not a globe.
10 That the mariners'
compass points north and south at the same time is a fact as
indisputable as that two and two makes four; but that this would be
impossible if the thing, were placed on a globe with "north"
and "south' at the centre of opposite hemispheres is a fact that
does not figure in the school-books, though very easily seen: and it
requires no lengthy train of reasoning to bring out of it a pointed
proof that the Earth is not a globe.
