Top 10 ways to know the earth is not flat, and 10 more cool things about the earth

So you've just finished setting out write in your own words why the earth is not flat. This can be a challenging assignment, because you often want to say "because it's so", or "because of gravity, the seasons, or time zones." These are all good starts at the question, but take a moment and read this post for some comparison.

Do you notice that the author tries to build logical arguments to explain why the earth is not flat? Check out how the author carefully reasons through experiments that demonstrate the earth is round...

If the earth were flat, then two sticks at different locations would produce the same shadow. (premise)

But, when this experiment is carried out, the shadows aren't equal. (experiment and evidence)

because the shadows aren't the same, we conclude the earth is not flat. (conclusion)

This type of writing is the hallmark of scientific reasoning. It doesn't simply tell the reader what we know, it tells the reader how we know.

While you're at it, check out 10 things you don't know about the earth, a fascinating post from the fantastic bad astronomy blog.

And of course, the earth is round, but technically, it's an oblate spheriod.

Also, you might want to check out the flat earth society website, notice how their explanations are filled with scientific sounding terms and explanations, but most of this is just jargon intended to confuse the reader. Compare it to the 10 reasons the world is not flat essay, and you can clearly see the power of science and the value of clear scientific writing. Wikipedia also has a nice article on the flat earth society.

Finally, here's the link to the BBC story on the flat earth conference.