is the earth flat is the earth flat or round

We’re stuck with spherical worlds no matter what.

But no gravity means neither matter nor energy can exist. Only in a universe where there is no gravity could a flat Earth exist. An object with the mass of the Earth that is flat would inevitably break up into fragments due to the gravity of the Sun, then accrete into an object and pull itself into a spherical object. Gravity, inevitably, will crush a non-spherical object into a spherical one assuming it has enough mass and weight. Rather they maintain irregular, fragmentary shapes. As a result, these bodies do not form spheres. With much smaller bodies, such as the 20km asteroids we have seen in recent spacecraft images, the gravitational pull is too weak to overcome the asteroid’s mechanical strength. The technical name for this process is “isostatic adjustment”. The only way to get all the mass as close to a planet’s centre of gravity as possible is to form a sphere. With its large body and internal heating from radioactive elements, a planet behaves like a fluid, and over long periods of time succumbs to the gravitational pull from its centre of gravity. Planets are round because their gravitational field acts as though it originates from the centre of the body and pulls everything towards it. This would mean we would all be dead from solar or cosmic radiation. Our magnetic field depends on a combination of the Earth rotating and there being a liquid core that conducts electricity. It’s unlikely that the Earth would have a magnetic field. There would be no horizon as such if you could get high enough to see over any intervening hills (or waves), you could see clear to the edge of the world.

There would be no difference in climate between the “poles” and the “equator”.Ĭoriolis forces would work differently, so weather systems in the “southern” “hemisphere” wouldn’t rotate in the opposite direction.

There would be no time zones, as the sun would rise and set at the same time across the entire face of the world. (Unless, of course, the flat disc is rotating at such a speed that centripetal acceleration cancels out the effect.) If you tried to travel towards the edge, you’d be pulled back the middle again. Assuming uniform density, it wouldn’t merely pull “downwards”, it would pull much more strongly towards the centre of the flat structure. All land would eventually be eroded and you would be left with a shallow sea covering the entire disc. There could be no plate tectonics, therefore no mountain ranges.

Is the earth flat is the earth flat or round