Welcome back guys, my name is Danny Burke and today Im gonna be taking a look at the
Top 10 Dumbest Flat Earth Arguments Debunked.
Maybe youre interested in the whole flat Earth argument, maybe you want a video to send to
your friend to convince them thats its not true - maybe youre a flat Earther whos already
disliked this video and is heading down to the comments section as I speak.
Either way, lets get into this - for the purposes of this video I will be using the term round
to describe the oblate spheroid shape of the Earth as described by the current scientific
model - its just easier to say round.
Starting off at number 10 we have The Horizon.
If the Earth was flat, the horizon would not work the way it does.
One famous example is the Ships example.
If you have ever been on a boat or by the shore and seen a ship in the distance, youll
know that they don't just materialize on the horizon like they would if the Earth was flat.
Instead, what happens is the tallest part of the ship appears first and then the rest
of it as it gets closer.
This only works if the Earth is round.
Next up at number 9 we have The Constellations.
If the Earth was flat, the constellations that you see in the night sky wouldnt change
no matter where you are.
The thing is - they don't.
The night sky is different in Australia to what it is in Canada because they are on almost
opposite sites of the globe - therefore they never see the same view as each other.
This is something that Aristotle noticed over 2000 years ago on either side of the Mediterranean.
Moving on to number 8 we have The Great Deception.
One of the questions that often comes up in the flat Earth debate is - why lie?
Flat Earthers believe that NASA and the US Government is lying to everyone about the
Earth being round because it give them power or money - somehow, the answers vary.
Lets put that to one side and lets put the fact that humans knew the Earth was round
thousands of years before the US even existed - what about the other countries?
There are currently 72 space agencies around the world.
To say that NASA is covering things up and lying to everyone is not enough - youd also
need to say that every other space agency is in on this lie including every scientist
in them.
Either that or they have been given fake scientific instruments to trick them into thinking all
their calculations that require a round Earth model are real when theyre actually fake.
If that sounds crazy, thats because it really is.
I honestly think a lot of the reason this whole flat Earth thing exists is because people
are a bit more skeptical of governments these days.
A healthy skepticism is good - governments do shady things sometimes - faking the ancient
knowledge of our very planet is not one of them.
At number 7 now we have Gravity.
If you want to believe the Earth is flat - you basically have to throw gravity out of the
window as well.
Gravity pulls an object towards another objects centre of mass.
On a sphere such as the Earth - the centre of mass is at the very centre.
This means that gravity is consistent no matter where you stand on Earth - its the simple
answer to why things don't fall off -the bottom- of Earth.
If we lived on a flat Earth, the centre of mass is in the middle the plane - that means
you wont be constantly pulled downwards like on a round Earth, youll always be pulled sideways.
Which of those most closely resembles your reality?
At number 6 now we have the Stick.
This is perhaps the most simple way that anyone on Earth can see that the Earth is round.
If you put a stick in the ground, it makes a shadow.
Depending on how far north or south you are at any given time, the stick would produce
different length shadows when the sun is directly overheard.
If the Earth was flat then both sticks should have the same length of shadow, or none at
all, because they would be position at the same angle towards the sun.
The Ancient greeks realised the only explanation for the way the shadows behaved would be if
the Earth was round.
They even used this to calculate the circumference of the Earth over 2000 years ago and they
were only off by about 10%.
If you have some time on your hands and a stick, you can do this for yourself.
At number 5 we have Time Zones.
As you all know - when its light one one side of the Earth, its dark on the other.
This is because the round Earth spins on its axis meaning the suns light can only hit a
portion of it at once.
On a flat Earth - the Sun should cover all the Earth in light at once.
Flat Earthers try and explain this by saying the Sun is directional, like a spotlight,
and moves around the Earth.
The thing is - if it was a spotlight, and the world was flat - you would still be able
to see it even if its dark where you are.
Think of it like sitting in a theater - your seat is in the dark, theres a spotlight on
the people on the stage - just because its not on you, you can still see it.
The only way we wouldnt be able to see a gigantic sun spotlight is if the Earth curves away
from us until we are in complete darkness.
At number 4 now we have The Blue Marble.
One argument that a lot of Flat Earthers make is how different NASAs pictures of Earth have
looked throughout the years.
They claim its photoshopped - NASA employees admit thats true - flat Earthers claim thats
a victory - its not.
Pictures like these are quite often photoshopped into whats known as a composite image - a
combination of smaller images put together.
Thats because the Earth is big so to get all of it in one picture, youd have to go pretty
far out.
Thats exactly what the crew of Apollo 17 did on their way the moon in 1972 - they took
this picture of Earth at a distance of about 18,000 miles.
It was dubbed The Blue Marble picture.
Its one of the few true non composite pictures of Earth - the others are not fake, theyre
just composites put together using different lenses and techniques.
At number 3 now we have Further From Higher.
This is kind of similar to our ships one from earlier but deserves its own point.
Anyone who has ever been up a tall building will know you can see further than you can
on the ground.
You may see a landmark that you just couldnt see until you went higher!
Granted, this is often because there are things blocking our view on the ground but even if
there arent, you can still see further.
On a flat Earth, elevation makes no difference.
It only matters if the Earth is round.
I once went up the CN Tower in Toronto and saw buildings further down the lake that I
couldnt see when I was standing by the shore.
But then again, NASA is paying me to say that.
Moving on to number 2 we have Other Planets.
If you have a decent enough telescope or you ever get the chance to use one at an observatory
over a period of time - you can take a look at some of the other planets in our solar
system.
What you will see you is that the planets are rotating and we see its surface change
as it moves.
If they were flat and rotating, they would suddenly look flat and thin before coming
back round to their full circular shape.
Thats not what happens.
Its true for every planet and moon that isnt tidal locked due to gravity.
The physics of our universe is what causes the planets to form and behave like this - Earth
is also a part of that.
And finally at number 1 we have The Moon.
The moon is perhaps once of the biggest giveaways when it comes to the Earth being round.
During lunar eclipses, the Earth moves between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on
it.
Firstly, you can see the Earth is round because of the shadow is casts on it - thats why its
a crescent moon and not a semi circle moon.
Secondly, a flat Earth model does not allow itself to be pulled between the Earth and
the Moon - they say the Sun and the Moon both rotate around the edges of the flat Earth.
Some explanations from Flat Earthers include the existence of a -brown dwarf- that passes
over the Earth undetected and casts a shadow onto the moon.
Its at this point where reasonable, scientific discussion based in facts we discovered thousands
of years ago are pointless.
Theres a very good chanced were all being trolled.
Sorry if this upset any flat earthers - hopefully it will encourage you to do your own research
- don't take my word for it, Im just a random guy on YouTube, thats probably how you ended
up believing all this in the first place so yeah, you have the tools to do your own research
using a little bit of basic maths and logic - thats something NASA can never take away
from you.
Thanks for watching as always guys, my name is Danny Burke and Ill see you all in the
next video.