2006-08-01 07:55:42 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
,,,,, IT ONLY SEEMS LIKE THAT.....in reality we are all munchkins and green in colour......hope that helps you?
2006-08-01 07:59:32 · answer #1 · answered by paul_9_25 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earths surface is not spherical and is rather oblate around the equator. The earth is a very large surface relative to human size and therefore elevation changes are not noticeably perceivable. However, you should be aware that even if the earth were completely "flat" you would still be unable to travel in a straight line since a straight line is a concept that does not actually exist.
2006-08-01 16:17:26 · answer #2 · answered by ?man 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When you travel any significant distance by sea or by air from point to point, you travel, not in a straight line, but along what is called a "Rhumb line" or a "great circle."
The Rhumb line may appear to be a straight line because it is constructed by following a consistent compass heading from the starting point to the destination. If you trace a Rhumb line from a starting point to a destination, however, you will find that it crosses meridians of longitude at different angles as you progress along the line.
For example, as one reader suggested, take a length of string and a world globe of the kind you might find in the library. Pin the string down with your fingernail at, say, Seattle, and the other end at HongKong. Stretch the string tight.
Notice that as the string crosses lines of latitude and longitude across the Pacific Ocean, it crosses at different angles as you go west. Note, also, that if you sight along the string, it remains true that you set out on a particular compass heading, and continued to fly (or sail) that same heading.
That's the definition of a Rhumb line. If you sight along it, it appears to be a straight line, but if you look at it from any distance at all (say, from the space shuttle), you can see that it follows the curvature of the earth.
2006-08-01 18:06:00 · answer #3 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It appears to be a straight line because of the short distance traveled relative to the large size of the earth.
Its like if you draw a circle on a page with a lot of very small straight lines, as you zoom out those straight lines will form a smooth circle.
2006-08-01 16:07:04 · answer #4 · answered by ObliqueShock_Aerospace_Eng 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You only have to leave the city, go to the plains where there are mountains in the distance.
I have mountains 100 kms from home. When they have snow in winter, all I can see from my home is a totally snow covered mountain.
If I drive towards it, gradually the lower part of the mountain begins to appear, until when I get in the vicinity, I see that only the top third of the mountain is snow covered.
From my home the bottom two-thirds of the mountain are over the curved horizon.
This phenomenon is visible all over the world, and common at sea where people on a ship approaching a distant mountainous island, see the top of the mountains at first, then more and more as the ship approaches, until all the island is visible.
So, it is not flat as you travel. It is just big.
Get out of the city and see things.
2006-08-01 16:19:53 · answer #5 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Although you may travel "straight ahead" you are always walking along a tangent to the earth. With each step you are standing on a new tangent. Because if you traveled far enough you would return to the same spot, you are traveling on a "great circle."
2006-08-01 18:23:17 · answer #6 · answered by Kes 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We don't! Aircrafts travel via the earths curvature.
It just feels like we are traveling in straight lines because of gravity.
2006-08-02 06:03:38 · answer #7 · answered by carly s 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We travel on lines known as great circles - it is only because the diameter is so large that it appears to be a straight line
2006-08-01 15:02:22 · answer #8 · answered by Paul B 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earth is generally spherical, as I am sure you have noticed the hills and mountains which make it not quite a sphere.
You travel in approximate straight lines in short distances cos you can not notice the difference.
Have you tried looking out to the see and trying to see land in teh distance???
FOr example look out from teh cliffs from western Ireland and try to see teh USA.
HMMMM You can t
cos the earth is curved.
2006-08-01 15:01:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We don't. We usually travel a great circle route which is a segment of a circle with a radius equal to that of the earth.
Get a globe and a piece of string and you will see what I mean
2006-08-01 15:21:02 · answer #10 · answered by andyoptic 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the earth's diameter is so large that it just seems that we are traveling in a straight line
2006-08-01 15:54:42 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋