our planet is round, so everythign that is level is straight and level compared to round, that means a level is not stright but actually curved slightly, but appears stright to us, that means our perception of ourselves is not truley what we look like because everythign is relative to the spherical earth we live on . . . .
does this make any sense, what do you think
2006-07-22 19:27:39 · 11 answers · asked by woundshurtless 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
you are right the earth is not perfectly roun, and it has valleys and mountains . . . .but not straight non the less, and if your in a cardboard box, you still relative to a round earth
2006-07-22 19:38:17 · update #1
The Earth is indeed round, or curved if you will. And yes, this does lead to interesting effects. However, you are playing on Einstein's Relativity Theory here, which does not quite come into play like you envision.
Unfortunately, the idea has been passed around that Einstein somehow proved "Everyting is Relative." This is a bunch of hooey. Einstein himself did not like the term Relativity Theory for precisely this reason. The important bit of Relativity Theory is to show what is *not* relative. For instance, the speed of light is not relative to you or me. It is absolutely, unnervingly constant.
However, if you want something to really blow your mind, check out the "Holographic Principle." I will not go into too much detail here, however, I will give you the general gist.
The Holographic Principle is based on the widely accepted theory that the entropy of a black hole is based on the surface area of the hole rather than the volume. A black hole contains the maximum entropy possible for a volume of space. Maximum Entropy can also be formulated as "the most stuff that can possibly happen." The end result is that we can say: "The most stuff that can happen in a volume of space is based on some surface area rather than a volume."
The upshot is that the 3-dimensional world in which we live in is only an approximation to the actual 2-dimensional world which really exists. The name "Holographic" plays on the idea that these 2-dimensions somehow project to give the illusion of a 3-dimensional world.
Another way to put it is: imagine a room. Make it as big as you like. You would like to model this room on the computer, and you want to make sure that you can model every possible state of the room perfectly. You would not need to model each point in the room. Modelling the walls of the room would be enough. In other words, only the walls of the room actually need to exist. The room itself is only in your mind!
How is *that* for messing around with the perception of us and the world?!
2006-07-22 19:46:41 · answer #1 · answered by Michael M 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First the earth isnt perfectly round, it bulges at the equator.
Second, why cant you have a straight line? if you were in a square box, that doesnt mean you cant perceive curved lines while inside it!
As others have said here, the earths curvature is unnoticeable because it is so slight.
2006-07-22 19:31:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earth is too big to notice any roundness on the ground, plus, the ground is not uniform throughout the planet, we have valleys, and mountains, and bodies of water...
Try to have the perspective on an ant.
2006-07-22 19:31:23 · answer #3 · answered by Kiri 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I sure does to me! And have you ever noticed that everything cycles? Like fashions, women's periods, and the process of life itself. Even our galaxy orbits around the sun. Guess you could say our (human) perspective is a bit warped. I mean limited, generally speaking that is.
It is good to know some people do use more than 10% of their brain. Kudos to you!
2006-07-22 19:46:22 · answer #4 · answered by allannela 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ok... we can still stand straight up and down, there's no freaky altered perception going on here. If you have a ball and you stick a toothpick in it, is that toothpick not just the same straight stick you had in your hand a second ago?
2006-07-22 19:32:54 · answer #5 · answered by Ashlee S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth is huge in size and the relative curvature is insignificant in comparison.You can place a matchstick on a huge ball and it'll still be straight
2006-07-22 19:34:32 · answer #6 · answered by GUK 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeh, it does make sense! But I don't think the earth is round SO much to make things that much out of porportion because it's so large. but wow, great question... you should really ask someone that question who is more educated! aka- not me. lol
2006-07-22 19:31:18 · answer #7 · answered by paige b 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it kinda make sensce. wat u mean level huh i kinda get it but not sure. but i think we are straight or perpendicular to the surface we touch . also the earth is not exatly round from pole to pole is slight longer then the diameter of the eqator
2006-07-22 19:33:09 · answer #8 · answered by Chi-Master-N-May 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is that what you might call a warped perception? :)
2006-07-22 19:32:42 · answer #9 · answered by crazyhumans2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its an optical illusion
check it urself from http://en.wikipedia.org
cya
2006-07-22 19:33:01 · answer #10 · answered by funrepublic_masti 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋