- The sphericity of the Earth is stable through the ages
The idea of a spherical Earth was endorsed by ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (384-322 BC),
who obtained empirical evidence after traveling to Egypt and seeing new constellations,
In the third century BC, Eratosthenes became the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth.
Likewise, other advanced measurements were made by Muslim scholars around the 9th century CE.
French physicist Leon Fouac designed an experiment in which he presented a simple scientific proof of the fact that the Earth rotates on its axis,
It was a suspension of a weight of 28 kg on a wire 67 meters long to the dome of the Panthéon Church in Paris, and as the Earth rotated,
The pendulum seems to complete a complete rotation, because it tends to move in a constant direction in a vacuum under the effect of inertia,
While the earth is revolving under it.
One of the most prominent evidence of the sphericity of the Earth is the phenomenon of a lunar eclipse, where the Earth’s shadow always has a circular shape,
Note that the only shape that casts a circular shadow no matter how light is shined through it is a sphere,
And no other shape will be able to cast round shadows under these varied conditions.
- Travel across or even within different time zones
According to a 2008 paper published in Applied Optics, the Earth’s curvature becomes somewhat visible at 35,000 feet (with a field of view >60°),
In addition to the fact that the existence of time zones in itself is evidence that the Earth is spherical, we will find that it will be night in one part of the world and day in another part.
Full of pictures of the globe taken from the International Space Station.