why it doesn't matter whether the earth is flat or round

A check in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists shows that Nicolaus Copernicus lived from 1473 to 1543 and he discovered that Ptolemy's description of a geocentric planetary system from 150 CE didn't describe the motion of the planetary wanderers in the sky as well as a model with the sun at the center.

We also find in Science in the Ancient World that some of the earliest evidence for the sphericity of the Earth was found in the third century BCE when Eratosthenes demonstrated that the differing angles of shadows in wells at faraway locations indicated that the world was a ball and he even used his limited information to derive a fairly accurate estimate of the Earth's circumference. The Encyclopedia of the Solar System takes you on a tour of Earth and our neighboring worlds, showing in great detail what our planetary probes and telescopes have found out to the edges of the Sun's gravitational domain. A Man On the Moon by Andrew Chaikin tells about our first efforts to send humanity into space and what they found when they got there. Planets are round because the mass of a planet (or other large celestial object) pulls on all of the rest of its mass and the resulting shape is roughly spherical.

The Science of Everyday Things explains how the force of gravitation between all matter follows simple rules that have universal consequences. Is there any evidence for this view of a flat world?Ī visit to your local library reveals a different view of our cosmos. And he's seen how flat the horizon looks from atop the mountains even though some people say they see a curve. He further explained that, 'water naturally tries to be flat' and that we have been told that gravity holds the water to the Earth but there is no proof of that. 'Why, there is just as much proof for a flat Earth as there is for it being a ball.Up until 200 years ago, everyone believed that the world was flat until Copernicus said that the Sun went around the Earth.' He also said that, 'Copernicus was the first to say that the Earth was round,' and that the Sun and the Moon go around the top of the Earth as if they were following the hands of a clock in the sky. Recently, on the mall shuttle, there was a young man expounding with boundless conviction and enthusiasm to his silent and smiling friends on the certainty that we live on a flat Earth.

Why it doesn't matter whether the earth is flat or round