Planet Earth

What would happen if the Earth was really flat?

The Earth is spherical, but the belief in a flat Earth refuses to die. A revealing blog from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University explains what would happen if the Earth was really flat.

flat-earth1 if the Earth was really flat

First, a flattened planet such as the one that defends the Flat Earth Society may not have gravity. It is not clear how gravity would work or be created in such a world, says Lamont-Doherty geophysicist James Davis . It is a big problem, since gravity explains a wide range of terrestrial and cosmic observations. The same measurable force that causes an apple to fall from a tree also causes the moon to orbit around the Earth and all the planets orbit around the sun.

People who believe in a flat Earth assume that gravity acts directly, but there is no evidence to suggest that it worked that way. What we know about gravity suggests that it would pull toward the center of the disk that forms the so-called flat Earth. That means that it would only pull down at a point in the center of the disk. As it moved further and further away from the center, gravity would pull more and more horizontally. This would have some strange impacts, such as sucking up all the water towards the center of the world and making trees and plants grow diagonally, as they develop in the opposite direction to the pull of gravity.

Then there is the Sun. In the scientifically supported model of the solar system, the Earth revolves around the sun because the latter is much more massive and has more gravity. However, the Earth does not fall to the Sun because it travels in an orbit. In other words, the sun’s gravity is not acting alone. The planet is also traveling in a direction perpendicular to the gravitational pull of the star; if it were possible to deactivate that gravity, the Earth would shoot straight and come out of the solar system. In contrast, the linear pulse and the sun’s gravity combine, resulting in a circular orbit around the sun.

The plane model of the Earth locates our planet at the center of the universe, but does not suggest that the Sun orbits the Earth. On the contrary, the sun rotates on the upper side of the world like a carousel, emitting light and heat downwards like a desk lamp. Without the linear and perpendicular impulse that helps generate an orbit, it is not clear what force would prevent the Sun and the Moon from hovering above the Earth, says Davis, instead of hitting it.

Similarly, in a flat world, artificial satellites would probably not be possible. How would you orbit a plane? “There is a series of satellite missions that society depends on that simply would not work,” says Davis. For this reason, he says: “I can not think how GPS would work on a flat Earth.”

If the Sun and Moon simply revolve around one side of a flat Earth, there is likely to be a procession of days and nights. But it would not explain the seasons, the eclipses and many other phenomena. The Sun should also be, presumably, smaller than Earth so as not to burn or crash into our planet or the Moon. However, we know that the Sun has more than 100 times the diameter of the Earth.

In a flat world, artificial satellites would not be possible.

The depths

Deep beneath the earth, the solid core of the Earth generates the planet’s magnetic field. But on a flat planet, that would have to be replaced by something else. Maybe a sheet of liquid metal. That, however, would not rotate in a way that would create a magnetic field. Without a magnetic field, charged particles from the sun would fry the planet. They could eliminate the atmosphere, as they did after Mars lost its magnetic field, and air and oceans escaped into space.

The solid core of the Earth generates the magnetic field of the planet.

The movement of the tectonic plate and the seismicity depend on a round Earth, because only one sphere fits all the plates in a sensible way, says Davis. The movements of the plates on one side of the Earth affect the movements on the other. The areas of the Earth that create bark, such as the mid-Atlantic mountain range, are counteracted by places that consume bark, such as subduction zones. On a flat Earth, none of this could be adequately explained. There should also be an explanation of what happens on the edge of the world. One could imagine that it could fall, but that would probably endanger the proposed wall that prevents people from falling out of the world in the form of a disk.

Perhaps one of the most striking oddities is that the proposed map of the flat Earth is totally different. Place the Arctic in the center while Antarctica forms an “ice wall” around the edges. In such a world, traveling would be very different. Flying from Australia to certain parts of Antarctica would be, for example, an eternity: you would have to travel through the Arctic and both Americas to get there. In addition, certain feats of the real world, such as traveling through Antarctica (which has been done many times), would be impossible.

if the Earth was really flat This is how some terraplanistas conceive our planet. The Arctic is in the center and an "ice wall" on the edges prevents people from falling ...

This is how some terraplanistas conceive our planet. The Arctic is in the center and an “ice wall” on the edges prevents people from falling …

Contrary to popular belief, it is a mistake to think that many societies of serious and educated people once truly believed in the theory of the flat Earth. “With few extraordinary exceptions, no one educated in the history of Western civilization since the third century AD believed that the Earth was flat,” said historian Jeffrey Burton Russell in 1997. “A round Earth appears at least since the century VI before Christ with Pythagoras, who was followed by Aristotle, Euclid, and Aristarchus, among others, observing that the earth was a sphere, “adds Davis.

Related Topics:Flat Earth Theory gravity

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Planet Earth

Alvin Toffler: Rural bioconverters as an alternative to urbanism

The great American futurologist Alvin Toffler gives a chance to the countryside. His prediction is that the countryside will be covered by a network of “bioconverters” where biomass waste is converted into food, feed, fiber, bioplastics and other goods.

The US domestic bioeconomy will be able to meet 90% of the country’s need for organic chemical fertilizers and 50% – the need for liquid fuel. Every million liters of bioethanol produced creates 38 direct jobs. Therefore, jobs are formed not “at the oil pipe”, but in agricultural regions.

American philosopher and futurologist Alvin Toffler and his wife Heidi Toffler published the book “Revolutionary Wealth” in 2006. There was no Internet power yet, the heyday of alternative energy and robots, but Toffler was already looking beyond the horizon of our time. For example, he not only draws attention to the fact that “time has become denser” (the same processes a hundred years ago and today are proceeding at different speeds), but that traditional institutions – family and education, bureaucracy and political parties – are increasingly lagging behind the growth rate production, from new values, communications and from the process of globalization. And in this discrepancy between the old institutions and processes of the new time lies the source of the impending crisis.

In the preface to the Toffler’s book, he writes:

“Wealth does not arise only in fields, factories, and offices. Revolutionary wealth is associated not only with money. Currently, even the most stupid observers cannot help but see that the economy of the United States and several other countries is transforming, turning into an intelligent economy controlled by the mind. The full impact of this transformation on the fate of an individual, as well as on the fate of all countries and even continents, has yet to be felt. The past half century has been only a prologue to this transformation.”

Nevertheless, Tofflers in their book also pay attention to the transformation of old institutions – for example, rural production, assuming that, having transformed, it will give people an alternative way of life from the city. We provide an excerpt from the book “Revolutionary wealth” about the new life of the countryside.

“In a stunning document that was not given due attention, the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the University of Washington National Defense paints a picture of the world where” agricultural fields will have the same meaning as oil fields.”

Even oil company managers have spoken about the “last days of the oil century.” Dr. Robert Armstrong, author of a report by the University of National Defense, develops this idea by claiming that we are moving towards a biology-based economy, where “gas will be replaced by genes” as a key source of not only various raw materials, but also energy.

At the beginning of the XXI century, American farmers produced 280 million tons of unnecessary leaves, stems and other plant waste per year. Some of this material is already being used, turning into chemicals, electricity, lubricants, plastic, adhesives and, most importantly, into fuel. This, however, is only the beginning. Armstrong anticipates that the countryside will be covered by a network of “bioconverters,” where biomass waste is converted into food, feed, fiber, bioplastics, and other products. He quotes from the 1999 report of the National Research Committee, which states that the US domestic bio-economy “will be able to satisfy 90% of the country’s need for organic chemical fertilizers and 50% of the need for liquid fuel.”

And this applies not only to America. In such an economy, Armstrong continues, “genes will be the basic raw materials, and they can be found everywhere, unlike oil.” Thus, he predicts a gigantic geopolitical shift in power from desert oil powers to tropical regions characterized by a rich and diverse biosphere.

“In the world of biotechnology,” Armstrong writes, “our relationship with Ecuador (a representative country) will become more significant than our relationship with Saudi Arabia.” Reason: Ecuador has a much greater diversity of the biosphere, and therefore – a variety of genes that have potential value for the whole world. If this is true in the case of Ecuador, what about Brazil? Or Central Africa?

The Eden project in Cornwall, England, launched by Tim Smith, is the largest greenhouse in the world. Smith believes that “we are on the eve of the greatest revolution. From plant materials we can produce composite materials that are more durable than steel and Kevlar. The possibilities for its use are phenomenal. Every country in the world can possess modern materials derived from its own plants.”

Alvin Toffler: Rural bioconverters as an alternative to urbanism 107

Eden Project in Cornwall

Moreover, Smith continues, “bioconverters should be built close to sources of raw materials. It is likely that regional agricultural crops will be actively developed, and special crops will be grown in certain regions to supply local bioconverters. The result of this process will be the creation of non-agricultural jobs in agricultural areas.”

Armstrong concludes:

“An economy based on biotechnology can ultimately stop the process of urbanization.”

North America plans to plant empty fields with Miscanthus, a giant elephant grass. Studies show that from one hectare it is possible to obtain by burning such an amount of fuel that is enough to replace 40 barrels of oil.

An example of Russia

In Russia, it is technically possible now every year to use about 800 million tons of wood biomass, which is not currently used in timber harvesting, and about 400 million tons of dry matter of organic waste, and 250 million tons of them of agricultural origin , 70 million tons of forestry and woodworking industry, 10 million tons of wood and hardwood waste (collected annually in cities), 60 million tons of municipal solid waste (mainly pulp and paper products and plastics) and 10 million tons other waste (for example, precipitation of municipal drains, etc.). Their processing potentially allows you to get 350-400 million tons of oil equivalent per year and open up to 500 thousand new jobs.

US example

Every million liters of bioethanol produced creates 38 direct jobs. Therefore, jobs are formed not “at the oil pipe”, but in agricultural regions. The raw materials for most bioeconomic products are sugar (glucose), starch (sugarcane) or cellulose (straw, sawdust). One of the most modern bio plants is the Dupont plant, which produces 100 thousand tons of corn bioplastics per year. This bioplastics surpasses nylon in cost price and consumer qualities.

Planet Earth

Silvery clouds alerted scientists

In summer, in the night sky, you can see something truly magical, namely silver clouds or mesospheric clouds. This rare phenomenon got its name because of the flickering effect in the twilight sky. However, despite its beauty ,these clouds can be a wake-up call.

Silvery clouds form in the mesosphere – a rarefied upper atmosphere with a small amount of moisture and low temperatures at an average height of 82 kilometers. The nature of this phenomenon has not been fully studied, however, scientists suggest that clouds form due to scarce water vapor, which freezes, creating crystals. Since the mesosphere is the coldest in summer, such clouds are observed precisely in this season.

The reason this phenomenon is not well understood is that the history of these clouds is relatively young. For the first time they were reported in 1885, and immediately scientists began to talk about the fact that they could appear due to climatic changes.

Now experts are again considering this possible reason, since for many years these clouds were mainly found only in the polar regions. But lately they have been laid much further, and look much brighter. So, on June 21, residents of the UK watched this beautiful phenomenon, although it is quite unusual for these places.

Most of the moisture needed to form clouds comes from methane – a greenhouse gas – that produces water vapor when it is destroyed in the upper atmosphere. And as methane pollution increased, silvery clouds became brighter, and most importantly, noticeable in new places.

Silvery clouds are studied by scientists, both from the Earth and from space, since they are quite high. However, to understand the true cause of the phenomenon, specialists still have a lot of work to do.

Planet Earth

A clear comparison of all the plastic in the world with New York

A modern person has a huge number of reasons for constant concern. And one of the most pressing concerns is plastic, which is about to evict us from our home planet.

Graphic craftsmen from the MetaBallStudios Youtube channel, specializing in visual comparisons of various things, decided to team up with the anti-plastic organization BeyondPlastic.net and create not just entertaining video, but entertaining and informative. It turned out, in our opinion, a real mini-horror movie.

Here’s what it took to create a horror movie: count all the volumes of plastic, put them together in black bags and compare with the city of New York. The video shares the following information with us:

on average, every inhabitant of Europe and America spends 100 kg of plastic annually (if you remember that plastic weighs almost nothing, it becomes uncomfortable);
daily in New York (substitute any city with a population of 9 million people) spent 2,300 tons of plastic;
30 thousand tons of disposable coffee cups are thrown around the world every day;
840 thousand tons of plastic are thrown out in New York annually;
in 1950, the global consumption of plastic was 1.5 million tons;
and today, up to 8 million tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean;
58 million tons of plastic bottles are produced worldwide annually;
and plastic bags altogether 100 million tons;

Perhaps, we will stop at this terrible figure – watch the video and understand everything yourself. We urge you to be responsible for nature.

Try to go to the store with a reusable bag, start with a reusable mug if you buy take-away coffee and generally think about the planet. Alas, we have nothing for life better than the Earth. This is proven.