If the Earth had an edge, what would it look like? I know, I know we’ve all heard this before, but there’s something mesmerising about this topic that makes me interested in every way possible. Diagonally growing trees? A flat solar eclipse? Us people who’s daily routines contain questioning this traumatising subject, we sure must have a wild imagination! But, what if we were right?
Sorry, sorry! I must not get ahead of myself! Welcome ladies and gentleman! Today I will be discussing the topic ‘What if the Earth was actually flat?.’. Containing twists and turns of many different opinions along the way, this article showcases what exciting and unbelievable things can happen, along with some very fascinating facts indeed!
If we were right, how would Earth hold up in space? Would it orbit the sun? Or would the Sun orbit it? In case you missed the news on the flat-earth channel, here’s a quick recap. For thousands of years everyone thought the earth, well, was flat, and everything revolved around it! Then, Nicolaus Copernicus came around with his new theory that the Earth was not actually flat, and definitely not the centre of anything! Over years of research and observation, he was finally led to believe that our planet is orbiting the Sun! And, here we are! 500 years later after his theory is fully proven, some of us still believe that the Earth is flat! But, how would that even work?!
Do you know why the planets are circular shapes? One word, ‘gravity’. Gravity pulls everything together, equally, from every side. As a result, matter – a mix of metal and rock, also the substance that all of our planets are made out of – forms into a sphere (of course, this wouldn’t be the case for a flat Earth). Flat-earthers think that there’s even no such thing as gravity! They think that the only reason our world is how it is is because of some mysterious force accelerating this pancake-shaped place, keeping it upwards. I don’t mean to tell you, but you can’t really increase the speed forever! At some point, it would be going too fast, setting our world on fire. Well, at least we would know why Earth exploded, right?
Before you say anything, there would be gravity on a flat planet, but, I’m warning you, it would be really, really weird. Everything on our flat Earth would be pulled into the middle, meaning that all the seas and oceans would become one big pool of water, all the oxygen would get sucked into the centre, and all the rainfall from over the years would start to build up, leaving one big pile of precipitation.
Imagine this: when you fell down, you wouldn’t really fall down, you would fall sideways! And it doesn’t stop there, for there wouldn’t even be a magnetic field. This would be because of the shape of our planet. The field is caused by the movement of our planet from the core, meaning that if our Earth was flat, it wouldn’t have a core. No magnetic field means that nothing would be held in place, and eventually, everything would merge with space!
People’s biggest concern is the air pressure. Since gravity would draw everything towards the centre, air, lands and even people would be sucked into the middle. Now, let’s go back into that list and focus on the first thing, air. All the areas around the edge of the world would be left with barely any oxygen for them to breathe. This would affect countries such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Denmark. But then again, if you lived close to the centre, you would get crushed by the weight of the atmosphere. Even if you lived in the middle of the destinations, you would get affected by either one or the other of these problems. If I were you, I would be very grateful for the world we live in today.
I hope you have learnt a lot about this fascinating topic and have had any question about this subject answered in full detail.
Margaret Lower III
