what expierament can be done to prove that the earth rotates on its axsis?

Answer 1

Foucault's pendulum.

Answer 2

Just witness night and day.

I have this theory that the ancients new stuff that was not owned by the supposed clerics of the times. The priesthood, who were mostly the academics, tended to either guess at science or assume that God had made everything perfect and so it wasn't worth questioning.

I cannot see why the people of the land and the sea never knew that the Earth was round and the that it revolved. You don't have to be at sea to be aware of a horizon. I live on a plain and can see some mountains at around 100 km away. In the winter the tops get covered with snow, but from my home, the whole mountain looks covered, because the snow-free lower parts of the mountain are not visible. As I drive towards the mountains, more and more of the mountain rises above my horizon, until when I get to the foothills, I see that rather than the whole mountain covered in snow, it is only the top third. The 2 thirds below the snowline were below the horizon from my home.

When ancient nomads wandered, and when sailing ships crept towards mountainous islands, this aspect must have been presented to them millions of times over in the course of history. Someone surely would have caught on that they were moving over a huge curved surface.

I am sure they did catch on. But who is going to listen to "ignorant" nomads or sailors? the fact is the clerics didn't wander anywhere, and most of their "knowledge" came from academic ramblings in the forums and the cloisters.

Also, there was a real chance that you would be executed as a heretic if you came out with something that contradicted the "noble" notions of the day.

The Church used to believe (some still do) that the Earth was created 6000 years ago and that God created it perfectly and unchanging. The notion is so ridiculous because anyone who is close to nature can see that mountains are being eroded all the time. I remember seeing dates someone had painted on a stone wall that ran to the edge of the white cliffs in the South of England. As the chalky cliffs were eroding, more and more of this wall was dropping into the sea. Anyone could stand there and almost calculate in their head how much cliff would be gone over the following years, even months.

How could anyone over thousands of years of civilisation not notice this phenomenom, and go to church and stand there while the minister told them that the world was created perfectly and unchanging?

So if it is obvious the Earth is round, then night and day tell you it is revolving. More experiments? - Look at phases of the moon. Get a telescope and see the phases of Venus.

Also, either the earth rotates, or everything else in the whole universe revolves around it, which is patently ridiculous, though in around 1500 you would be in excellent company to believe the latter, and be in danger of being cooked on the big BBQ if you pointed out the ridiculousness of the latter.

Answer 3

This must be for a school assignment. What you can do is set a pendulum in motion. It will stay aligned with the original frame of reference you gave it in space, and over the course of a 24 hour day it would appear to rotate once due to your changing frame of reference. Another thing you could do is set a gyroscope in a set of gimbals and put it in motion. It will also appear to rotate once in a 24 hour day as it retains its original frame of reference while the earth moves about. You can't exactly pull off either one of these stunts in your kitchen, but you might have a science museum somewhere nearby that demonstrates the first one.

Answer 4

1) Sit outside facing the sun in the evening.
2) Observe the sun moving (going down) about 15 degrees per hour. Sun rise evidence, almost the same, but sun is rising.
3) Ergo, evidence (not proof). The sun may be rotating around the earth's axis.

Answer 5

Stick a stick in the ground, Watch the shadow revolve around it.

Answer 6

Not to be a smart a$$, but read a science book about it, cause it has been proven hundreds of years ago.

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum
Confirmed by the Foucault Pendulum experiment.

Answer 8

Day and night, and the seasons are the simplest experiments i can think of.

Answer 9

the sun rising & the sun set each day from about the same place can proof..

Answer 10

i don't have a clue