is the earth flat or round. how can I (!) test it by my self?

Question

so actualy everbody knows, the earth is round, but as I watch out, I just look at a very flattn horizon. My question: How can I test the "roundness" by "do it your self"?

Answer 1

DIY! Nice... You know, the easiest way i've heard, is in Cuzco in Peru, where there are big drawings on the ground, its a desert, so they say its so arid, you can actually see the horizon go sightly curve. You usually can't check the roundness of the earth by looking at it because of the irregularities that the ground has, but on the sea, you might appreciate it as well.

OH GOSH! I JUST REMEMBERED!
Check this out from wikipedia:
"Eratosthenes knew that on the summer solstice at local noon in the town of Syene on the Tropic of Cancer, the sun would appear at the zenith, directly overhead.

He also knew, from measurement, that in his hometown of Alexandria, the angle of elevation of the Sun would be 7.2° south of the zenith at the same time. Assuming that Alexandria was due north of Syene he concluded that the distance from Alexandria to Syene must be 7.2/360 of the total circumference of the Earth. The distance between the cities was known from caravan travellings to be about 5000 stadia: approximately 800 km. He established a final value of 700 stadia per degree, which implies a circumference of 252,000 stadia. The exact size of the stadion he used is no longer known (the common Attic stadion was about 185 m), but it is generally believed that Eratosthenes' value corresponds to 39,690 km."

You can try this experiment by yourself if you like to walk a lot! Now you can measure with more accuracy, and you just can do this: from a very far place, you can set a clock at a correct time. You can measure the shadow of a stick, and then you travel somewhere else. You dont change the hour in the clock. When you get there, you measure the shadow of the stick at the same exact time on the other place. They might be different.

There might be some errors because of the movement of the Earth and all, but at this time, you can travel and do the experiment with one day of difference, to get the least error as possible.

Answer 2

u can watch the footage from the international space station. Thats how u can see the earth is round. U can also type it online and find pictures of the earth taken from the moon. Go to the beach and do what the person above said. thats another way

Answer 3

Next time there's a Lunar eclipse in your neighborhood (when the Earth casts a shadow on the Moon) look at the dark part (the shadow) It's curved which shows that the Earth is round.

Answer 4

Go to the beach near a port and watch a large boat sail away. It slowly disappears below the horizon. Proof that the world is roundish.

Answer 5

Go in space--the earth is definitely spherical from out there. Or go out in the ocean until the horizon looks rounded. If you go far enough out in the water, it doesn't look flat anymore.

Answer 6

You can do it like Eratostenes, only you need light, shades and your mind.......

(Sorry, and a text translator because this information is in Spanish).

Eratóstenes y la medición de la esfera terrestre

Eratóstenes en sus estudios de los papiros de la biblioteca de Alejandría, encontró un informe de observaciones en Siena, unos 800 Km. al sureste de Alejandría, en el que se decía que los rayos solares al caer sobre una vara el mediodía del solsticio de verano (el actual 21 de junio) no producía sombra.

Eratóstenes entonces realizó las mismas observaciones en Alejandría el mismo día a la misma hora, descubriendo que la luz del Sol incidía verticalmente en un pozo de agua el mismo día a la misma hora. Asumió de manera correcta que si el Sol se encontraba a gran distancia, sus rayos al alcanzar la tierra debían llegar en forma paralela si esta era plana como se creía en aquellas épocas y no se deberían encontrar diferencias entre las sombras proyectadas por los objetos a la misma hora del mismo día, independientemente de donde se encontraran. Sin embargo, al demostrarse que si lo hacían, (la sombra dejada por la torre de Sienna formaba 7 grados con la vertical) dedujo que la tierra no era plana y utilizando la distancia conocida entre las dos ciudades y el ángulo medido de las sombras calculó la circunferencia de la tierra en aproximadamente 250 estadios (40. 000 kilómetros, bastante exacto para la época y sus recursos).

Answer 7

Start travelling one direction and do not change course. When you get back where you started you will have proof enough.

Answer 8

Just keep running until you find the anwer.

Answer 9

pay your 2 billion dollars to ride into inter space. then you can look for yourself.

Answer 10

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99427.htm