Why can’t we see the curvature of the Earth? Science answers!

With flat earthism, the debate about the shape of the Earth has once again become a debate in the scientific community and among supporters of conspiracy theories. One of the reasons for this is human perception, as we cannot observe the curvature of the planet with the naked eye.

Despite countless scientific evidence confirming the nearly spherical shape of the Earth, some people still believe that we live in a completely flat world.

If you are in an open, empty space, everything around you will appear at first glance to be one very large straight line, with no signs of curvature. The term ‘apparently’ is used precisely to emphasize that this impression is only superficial.

Actually, The curvature of the Earth exists, but cannot be seen from your perspective from the ground; The scenario would be different if the observation had been made from space.

Although the topic seems current, debates about the shape of the planet are very old and became clear centuries ago.. There are many mathematical data and scientific experiments proving the curvature of our planet.

Approximately 200 years before Christ, Greek mathematician and astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene conducted an experiment that confirmed the Earth’s circumference.

So even before the modern calendar, some people understood that the planet had a spherical shape. In this test, Eratosthenes observed the Sun and calculated the circumference of the Earth by measuring the angles of the shadows.

Eratosthenes’ experiment was extremely important because it was the first time a scientist used empirical and mathematical methods to calculate the circumference of a planet. However, before this, thinkers such as Pythagoras and Aristotle had already suggested this possibility.

Why can’t we see the curvature of the Earth?

The simplest answer to explain why we cannot observe the curvature of the Earth, even though we know that the Earth has an almost spherical shape, is perspective. This is the best argument against Flat Earth.

The possibility of observing the planet’s environment depends solely on where you are. For example, if you are on the International Space Station (ISS) like astronauts, It will be possible to clearly see that the world is round.

At the earth’s surface level, It is impossible to see the curvature due to the size of the planet and the limited field of view of the human eye.

Imagine you are at the beginning of a hypothetical tunnel between Brazil and Europe, and there is a long, thin bend along the entire route. From your perspective, all you will perceive is a straight line, without knowing that there is a curve along the tunnel.. Likewise, you cannot see the curvature of the planet.

In this case, there is a limitation of the human perspective, but there is another ‘problem’ that explains why it is not possible to make this observation: The scale of the planet and the subtlety of the curve are what make this view truly impossible.

Even if you climb Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, you can’t see anything beyond the horizon of ice-covered mountains. To see the curvature of the Earth with your own eyes, you need to fly about 10 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.

How to see the curvature of the earth?

While on the ground we can see in a straight line for about 3 miles with nothing obstructing our vision. This distance is not enough to detect the curvature of the Earth, but it becomes visible from this height of over 10 km above the surface. To see the entire environment, you need to be in space.

It is important to emphasize that the Earth does not have a perfectly spherical shape, as it is slightly flattened at the poles and wider at the equator. This shape is due to the centrifugal effect created by the planet’s rotation.

“People have known for a long time that the Earth is curved; but this knowledge was not always widely disseminated among people without access to formal education. “For millennia, some people believed that the earth was flat, based solely on observations made while standing on its surface and looking toward the horizon,” the encyclopedia Britannica recounted.

Get up-to-date information about astronomy at TecMundo. If you want, take the opportunity to understand why we do not feel that the Earth is rotating. Until later!