200 reasons the earth isn’t a spinning ball, number 3:
3) The natural physics of water is to find and maintain its
level. If Earth were a giant sphere tilted, wobbling and hurdling through
infinite space then truly flat, consistently level surfaces would not exist
here. But since Earth is in fact an extended flat plane, this fundamental
physical property of fluids finding and remaining level is consistent with
experience and common sense.
Now, this reason revolves around water. Basically the idea
is that water always fills the container it is in to create a flat surface.
Therefore, if earth was flat, the sea could be flat and hold it’s level easily,
while in a round earth the flat sea they claim exist could not be truly flat.
And in a way they are right. If fluids always formed flat
surfaces, a round earth could not have flat oceans, however, as I have already
discussed in point 1 and 2, the seas and oceans are not flat, and in fact dip
away beyond the horizons (as proved by the hull of boats disappearing before
the sails). Photos from space also show the oceans curving.
Therefore, the question becomes how does water curve?
Well, actually water is never truly flat. If you have ever
drawn water up into a narrow tube, you will see that it’s surface actually
forms a crescent shape, or a meniscus because of the surface tension of the
water. Once you realise this, the whole idea of curved water becomes less
strange, but it still doesn’t explain the curve that we see in the seas.
As i understand it, the curved horizon of the oceans is due
to the resolution of several forces. First, is the force away from the earth
caused by it’s rapid spinning. Think of this as being like that science
experiment where you spin a bucket of water around your head, and the water
stays in the bucket. Well, until yo slow down anyway. I always thought that
getting wet was more important to most
of us than the science, but anyway...
Anyway, by itself, this force should send all earth’s water
flying off into space. Fortunately, there is a stronger force pulling it down,
the Earth’s gravity. Every single thing on earth is constantly accelerating
downwards at a rate of 9.8 metres per second squared. This means that if you
were to suddenly drill a tunnel down to the centre of the earth underneath
yourself, without the floor to support you you would fall down...and
down....and down.... getting faster... and faster... and faster...
Thankfully, that doesn’t happen. Instead, we are constantly
pulled down into the ground, sticking our feet firmly to the floor. The same
thing happens to the world’s water. It is pulled down towards the centre of the
globe as powerfully as we are. It, being free to flow, finds itself travelling
to the spot where it is as close to the centre of the earth as possible, so
water flows downhill until it reaches the lowest point possible, then fills it
to form a sea, lake, river or ocean.
So, with this in mind, why is water curved? It’s because the
acceleration due to gravity isn’t straight down. Instead, it’s constantly
pointing towards the dense centre of the planet. Water a the north pole is
accelerating in the opposite direction as water in the south pole. This means
that water is pulled into the curve that we can see.
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