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flat Earth
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Written by L. Sue Baugh
Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Flat Earth, the perception that Earth exists as a flat disk, either circular or
square-shaped. This view persisted in the ancient world until empirical
observations revealed that Earth’s shape was spherical or ellipsoidal. In
modern times, however, the notion of a flat Earth has been revived and
promoted on social media despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
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Traditional conceptualizations
To observe Earth’s curved horizon, one must be at least 10,668 metres (about
35,000 feet) above its surface. Since the technology of ancient cultures was
insufficient to allow people to reach such heights, the world around them
appeared to be flat and stationary. Their perceptions were further reinforced
by the movements of the Sun and the Moon, which appear to rise in the east
and set in the west relative to a flat horizon, and of the stars, which appear to
rotate in a dome overhead.
Different descriptions of a flat Earth can be found in the annals of ancient
civilizations worldwide. For example, ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian
records describe the world as a disk in the ocean with the heavens arching
above it. An Iraqi tablet dated to 1000 BCE shows Babylon at the centre of a
flat disk, and the Greek philosopher Anaximander (610–546 BCE) perceived
Earth as a flat disk perched at the top of a cylinder. In Norse cosmology,
Earth’s flat plane is encircled by an ocean, with a world tree or pillar at the
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plane is encircled by an ocean, with a or pillar at the
centre. In India some sacred texts describe the planet as a series of stacked
flat disks, while others describe it as a horizontal wheel set on a vertical axle.
In China Earth was described as flat and square into the 17th century, at
which time Western science introduced evidence for the planet’s spherical
shape (see also spherical Earth).
Contemporary revival
The idea that Earth is flat seems to have an enduring hold on human
imagination. In the 1830s a commune in Britain, led by British writer Samuel
Birley Rowbotham, resurrected the concept as backlash against rapid scientific
progress. Members believed that Earth was a circular disk with the North Pole
at the centre and a wall of ice surrounding the edges of the disk to contain the
oceans. The group was regarded as a harmless symbol of British eccentricity.
What would become the modern flat Earth concept emerged modestly in the
1950s as the Flat Earth Society, a small fringe group in Britain with a
membership of fewer than 4,000 people. However, largely due to the rising
influence of the Internet and social media in the early 2000s, the organization
launched itself worldwide in October 2009, and annual conferences followed
and catered to a variety of worldviews. Some of the society’s models echo the
ancient view of Earth as a disk with a dome of stars rotating above it. The
models of other groups, however, claim that the Sun and the Moon are only
50 km (31 miles) in diameter and that they circle the disk at a height of 5,500
km (3,417 miles). Others envision a world hemmed in by Antarctica (which is
believed to extend infinitely in all directions), or they reject conventional laws
of gravity, explaining that Earth exists as a disk that accelerates upward in
order to give the illusion of gravity.
Scientists and researchers who study this growing movement have found
that its appeal is rooted in four trends: the public’s mistrust of official
scientific sources, the perpetuation of conspiracy theories, loyalty to the
groups and community they identify with, and the use of social media to
spread misinformation. Flat Earth ideas have gained a large enough audience
worldwide to alarm some scientists, who have launched their own social
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worldwide to alarm some scientists, who have launched their own social
media campaigns to debunk the flat Earth models promoted online. Other
researchers are working to overcome these perceptions by combining the
teaching of rigorous evidence-based science with a restoration of public trust
in scientific institutions attained by taking the questions of flat Earth
adherents seriously and refraining from taking aloof and dismissive positions.
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L. Sue Baugh
Home Science Earth Science, Geologic Time & Fossils Earth Sciences
spherical Earth
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Also known as: spherical Earth model
Written by Karen Sottosanti
Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Table of Contents
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Spherical Earth, refers to any figure of Earth as represented by a sphere.
Although other models, including the geoid model (which is based on
approximations of Earth’s gravitational field) and the ellipsoid model (which
is based on mathematical approximations of Earth’s shape), are more accurate
for many purposes, spherical models are useful as a general-use model of
Earth. A globe is one representation of a spherical model of Earth.
Historical evidence
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Human beings have long known that Earth is curved; however, the knowledge
of Earth’s shape was not always widely known to people who had no formal
education. Over the millennia, some people believed the world is flat by
relying on their own observations as they stood on its surface and looked
toward the horizon. In contrast, arguments for Earth having a curved surface
were first posited during the 6th century BCE, by the ancient Greek philosopher
Pythagoras, who observed the spherical nature of other planets and posited
that Earth also possesses a spherical shape. In the 5th century BCE Anaxagoras
noted that during lunar eclipses the curved shadow of Earth moves across the
face of the Moon, leading him to infer that Earth is round. During the 4th
century BCE Aristotle attempted to use Earth’s circumference to calculate the
size of Earth, and by about 240 BCE Eratosthenes used geometry to estimate
Earth’s circumference, based on the evidence of shadows and their angles
relative to the Sun.
Other evidence of Earth’s curved shape was gathered by sailors and
navigators. They observed that the stars appeared to move from their familiar
locations in the sky to different locations as ships and their crews traveled to
different parts of the world, and sailors traveling from one hemisphere to the
other reported the existence of constellations they had never seen before. In
addition, sailors looking toward the horizon observed that ships in the
distance appeared to their view in stages, with the tops of ships’ masts, sails,
and other rigging revealing themselves first before the decks and hulls
appeared. Similarly, a seated person can observe the Sun appearing to sink
completely below the horizon. However, if the individual stands up, the Sun’s
edge will again become visible, allowing the viewer to watch it again slip below
the horizon.
Evidence from modern instrumentation
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Modern satellite imagery and measurements of Earth’s gravitational field
support the notion that Earth is not a perfect sphere but rather an oblate
spheroid (that is, a sphere which is flattened at the poles). This shape derives
from the way Earth spins on its axis, generating centrifugal force that causes
the planet to bulge at the Equator. The presence of landforms such as
mountains and valleys means that Earth is not a perfect oblate spheroid
either. If this level of precision is needed, scientists use the geoid, which
coincides with mean sea level, as a reference surface that can be used to
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measure specific elevations of Earth’s surface features.
Karen Sottosanti
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