Can I see the curvature of the earth at the shore or is it my imagination?

Question

Or maybe its another effect, such as optical. I understand that the horizon is proportional to the square root of the height of the observer relative to the sea level . So on the beach, lets say I am 20 feet high. That works out to something like 25 miles. Looking left to right rapidly, its true that the locus of lines from my eye to the horizon would be a cone. But only with a 20 foot drop in 25 miles. I would never see that. Has anyone seen this?

Answer 1

I think you're on the right track. Near the sea, the curvature would be too slight to notice, but from the summit of a 1500m mountain near the sea, I THOUGHT I could see the curvature of the earth. I guess that you could from an aeroplane cruising at 10,000 metres.

Answer 2

if you watch a ship with a tall mast sailing away from you in a straight line, the body of the ship will disappear before the top of the mast does..... due to the curvature of the earth.... of course, this isn't what you see really, but it's a way of 'seeing' it that makes sense to me....

of course, that also means the surface of the ocean is curved, which doesn't .....?????

Answer 3

At the horizon as far as you can see is where the Earth is curving.