Maybe for many the question is ridiculous and the answer obvious. Or maybe not?
The theory that the Earth is flat has been gaining followers in recent years, with the first conference of "terraplanistas" held late last year in the United States. There are even Hollywood and NBA celebrities who defend it.
Although there is much more evidence (both graphic and physical) that the Earth is round, the debate appears and reappears intermittently.
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Therefore, willing to end the speculation, a geophysicist at Columbia University and member of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in the state of New York, wanted to draw the scenario of a flat Earth taking as true the assumptions of "terraplanistas" "
For this James Davis goes through the physical, scientific and natural phenomena that we know today.
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Fuente
1. The severity
People who believe that the Earth has a disk shape assume that gravity would exert its force directly downward, but that is not how this phenomenon works.
Davis clarifies that it has been proven numerous times that the gravitational force pushes towards the center.
Therefore, with a flat Earth, the water would be attracted towards the center of the disk with oceans sucked inwards.
The trees, which grow in the opposite direction to the gravitational center, would be diagonal.
Walking would also be a complicated task, with a force that pushes us towards the center when we try to reach the edges of the disc. It would be like walking a steep hill.
2. The solar system
The model of the solar system that prevails today places the Sun in the center and the Earth circulating around it thanks to an orbit that keeps us closer and farther from the big star, depending on the time of year.
The "terraplanistas" place the Earth at the center of the Universe where the Sun operates as a lamp that radiates light and heat from one side of the planet to another, but they do not speak of an orbit.
Davis believes that, without this orbit or the gravitational force of the Sun, nothing would prevent us from flying out of the solar system.
A flat Earth would uncover another incongruity.
If the Sun and the Moon simply go from one place to another, it is possible that there are days and nights, but that would not explain the seasons, the eclipses and other types of astronomical phenomena.
Also, the Sun should be smaller than Earth, otherwise it could burn us or it could fall on us or on the Moon.
Davis recalls that there are enough measurements to prove that the Sun is 100 times the diameter of the Earth.
3. Magnetic field
The laws of physics that we know today hold that the core of the Earth generates its magnetic field. On a flat planet, according to the defenders of this model, this field does not exist.
That being so, says the geophysical expert, there could not be an atmosphere that enclosed the air and the seas, which would escape into space.
This is what happened with Mars, remember, that it lost its magnetic field and with it its habitable conditions.
4. Tectonic activity
The movement of the tectonic plates and the movement of seismic movements are explained only by a round Earth.
"Only one sphere fits all the plates sensibly," says Davis.
The movements of the plates on one side of the Earth affect the movements on the other.
The areas of the Earth that create bark, such as the Andes mountain range, are counteracted by places that consume bark, such as suction zones with large valleys and pits.On a flat Earth, none of this could be adequately explained.
It could not be understood why there are mountains, ridges or earthquakes.
There should also be an explanation of what happens with the plates on the edge of the world.
One could imagine that they may fall, but the "terraplanistas" have already established that there is an "ice wall" on the edge created by Antarctica, something very hard to believe, says Davis.
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To conclude, from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory they say that if we lived on a flat Earth we would have no doubt because everything would be radically different from what we know today (if possible).