THE EARTH IS ROUND
A PUSU Fact Sheet for Young People · draft for schools
THE CLAIM
The Earth is really a flat disc, and space agencies lie about it being a ball.
» Ships sink bottom-first
Watch a ship sail out to sea through binoculars and its hull disappears over
the horizon before its mast does. That only happens because the sea's surface
curves away. On a flat Earth the whole ship would simply shrink until it was
too small to see.
» Earth's shadow is always round
During a lunar eclipse the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon and casts
its shadow on the Moon. That shadow is always curved, at every eclipse and
from every angle. Only a ball casts a round shadow no matter how it is turned.
» Day and night at the same time
When it is midday for you it is the middle of the night on the far side of the
world. One Sun shining on a flat disc could not light one half while leaving
the other dark. A spinning ball explains it perfectly.
» People measured it long ago
You do not even need a rocket. Over two thousand years ago the Greek scholar
Eratosthenes compared shadows in two cities on the same day and worked out the
size of the round Earth, getting remarkably close to the real answer.
★ TRY IT YOURSELF ★
On a clear night, notice that people who travel far north or far south see
different stars. Constellations visible from Australia never rise in Britain
-- exactly what you would expect on a curved world.