What Shape is the Earth?

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What shape do you think the Earth is?

Flat (suspended in space)
3
8%
Flat (elephants, turtle, etc.)
4
10%
Globe (Oblate Spheroid actually)
26
65%
Square/Cube
5
13%
Other
2
5%
Don't Know
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 40

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661-Pete
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What Shape is the Earth?

Post by 661-Pete »

Yes it's an old one - but a recent survey suggests that up to a third of 18-24yo Americans aren't quite sure....
Maybe this isn't just about a bunch of comical crackpots anymore - is it beginning to get disturbing? Suggestions as to the 'Trump' effect and attendant conspiracy-theorising (watch the video)?

Anyway, perhaps time to sound out this forum's beliefs. Be honest! (or not - as you prefer :twisted: )...

P.S. I include the "square" option as a tribute to that excellent 1960s comedy series It's A Square World....
Last edited by 661-Pete on 5 Feb 2019, 1:38pm, edited 1 time in total.
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
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kwackers
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by kwackers »

I've a cup here with the earth mapped to it (it goes daytime when you put hot stuff in it!).

So I'm voting 'cylindrical'.
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661-Pete
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by 661-Pete »

kwackers wrote:I've a cup here with the earth mapped to it (it goes daytime when you put hot stuff in it!).

So I'm voting 'cylindrical'.
Don't suppose you have a matching napkin ring, or similar toroidal shape, by any chance?

Did you know that the thorny old "Gas-Water-Electricity" puzzle can be solved on a toroidal Earth - and you can throw in a fourth utility and add a fourth house, to boot?!
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
paddler
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by paddler »

661-Pete wrote:
kwackers wrote:I've a cup here with the earth mapped to it (it goes daytime when you put hot stuff in it!).

So I'm voting 'cylindrical'.
Don't suppose you have a matching napkin ring, or similar toroidal shape, by any chance?

Did you know that the thorny old "Gas-Water-Electricity" puzzle can be solved on a toroidal Earth - and you can throw in a fourth utility and add a fourth house, to boot?!


I'd forgotten all about that!
roubaixtuesday
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by roubaixtuesday »

Turtle option needs adding please.
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661-Pete
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by 661-Pete »

roubaixtuesday wrote:Turtle option needs adding please.

Done (whoever voted will need to re-vote).
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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Mick F
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by Mick F »

661-Pete wrote:P.S. I include the "square" option as a tribute to that excellent 1960s comedy series It's A Square World....
There was a cartoon strip with the Noom as a square world. Could even have pre-dated It's a Square World.

Can't remember the comic, but the alien world had a cubic moon called Noom.
Mick F. Cornwall
kwackers
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by kwackers »

Mick F wrote:Can't remember the comic, but the alien world had a cubic moon called Noom.

Moons can have moons now; or 'moon-moon's

So would that be 'moon-noom', 'noom-moon' or 'noom-noom'?
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Mick F
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by Mick F »

Can have?
Did they not always have?
Is this a new fashion?
Can we have one now? :wink:
Mick F. Cornwall
kwackers
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by kwackers »

Mick F wrote:Can have?
Did they not always have?
Is this a new fashion?
Can we have one now? :wink:

I think nobody has seen one with one before, but apparently one of the exoplanets spotted has been shown to have a moon with a moon and so there has been some debate over what a moon's moon is called.
Tangled Metal
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by Tangled Metal »

It's a complex shape that has roughly been equated to a slightly flattened sphere but there's such an irregular surface I'm not sure you can call it any recognised shape. But I'm probably being pedantic, petty and argumentative.
kwackers
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by kwackers »

Tangled Metal wrote:but there's such an irregular surface I'm not sure you can call it any recognised shape

Are you talking about surface irregularities?

If so then strictly speaking as a percentage of its size the irregularities would make ball bearings look rough.
Oldjohnw
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by Oldjohnw »

It's in pretty bad shape just now.
John
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Tangled Metal wrote:It's a complex shape that has roughly been equated to a slightly flattened sphere but there's such an irregular surface I'm not sure you can call it any recognised shape. But I'm probably being pedantic, petty and argumentative.


It's an imperfect oblate spheroid - I think that covers the main discrepancies you talk about.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Vorpal
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Re: What Shape is the Earth?

Post by Vorpal »

Maybe like this ;)
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catworld.png
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