What's your explanation?

If you watched someone in the distance walk over the horizon, where do they go? I thought this was settled by Christopher Columbus 500 years ago. I'd love to hear your opinions on this.

Or even better, explain this?
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They go wherever they are walking to.

They go wherever they are walking to.

Yes, well done. But according to FE'ers, if the world was flat we should theoretically be able to see the whole earth from where you are standing.

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

If you watched someone in the distance walk over the horizon, where do they go? I thought this was settled by Christopher Columbus 500 years ago. I'd love to hear your opinions on this.

Or even better, explain this?
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I have heard that sailors observed ships sailing over the horizon long before Columbus and this proved to them that the earth was a globe.? Even the old sailing ships usually had a globe in the Captain's Cabin. 

It is sort of ironic, (or something or other for lack of a better term ), that in the middle of the oceans, (any ocean)   the earth looks the flattest of any place on earth, but the curvature of the earth is proven by the old "ships sailing over the horizon." Samuel Birley Rowbotham's idea of "recovering a ship which has sailed over the horizon with a telescope" seems to make no sense at all. It is just an impossibility. Maybe Mr. Rowbotham had never been to sea. Or maybe he was "at sea" ? LOL

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

why would binoculars reduce the particles in the way?
(I don't agree with itchy's answer, but your objection doesn't seem to make any sense).

Quote from: matty on April 28, 2015, 11:50:14 AM

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

why would binoculars reduce the particles in the way?
(I don't agree with itchy's answer, but your objection doesn't seem to make any sense).

"On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon."

Quote from: JRoweSkeptic on April 28, 2015, 12:11:34 PM

Quote from: matty on April 28, 2015, 11:50:14 AM

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

why would binoculars reduce the particles in the way?
(I don't agree with itchy's answer, but your objection doesn't seem to make any sense).

"On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon."

so, on a clear day, you believe the atmosphere vanishes?

Quote from: matty on April 28, 2015, 12:14:50 PM

Quote from: JRoweSkeptic on April 28, 2015, 12:11:34 PM

Quote from: matty on April 28, 2015, 11:50:14 AM

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

why would binoculars reduce the particles in the way?
(I don't agree with itchy's answer, but your objection doesn't seem to make any sense).

"On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon."

so, on a clear day, you believe the atmosphere vanishes?

Obviously not, on a clear day I presume he meant the visibility is higher due to less fog etc...

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

Okay, well firstly we can theoretically see forever. The only thing limiting the distance we can see in this sense is the size of the object. The human eye can resolve a minimum of 0.01 degrees. If what you're saying is correct then we shouldn't be able to stars as the water vapour in the atmosphere would limit us from seeing out of the atmosphere its self. But any rational person would know particles in the atmosphere don't stop us from seeing over 5km. But this point aside this idea can be disproved with some simple mathematics. We know the average person, lets say 6ft, disappears past the horizon at 5km. This being the horizon or water vapour and particles is irrelevant as we know this phenomena does happen. If the world was flat this would happen at 10.5km away. Basic trigonometry can be used to work this out. So why do people disappear at 5km and not 10.5km? This is one of many problems with the flat Earth theory. 

Another of the flat earth fallacies is "The horizon just fades away in the distance."
Of course this makes no sense. On a piece of land where the horizon is not visible due to trees, mountains, buildings, etc. the horizon is always clearly visible. There may be occasions where the horizon is also obscured by fog, smog, smoke, etc. but the horizon is always clearly visible and clearly defined  on a clear day.

The definition of the horizon is "Where the land and sky meet." If the earth was flat this would be where the so-called "ice dome" (which the flat earthers are not in agreement) meets the "ice wall."

With modern technology, with a powerful enough telescope , special filters to filter out the effects of the atmosphere, cameras and films, the so-called "ice wall" should be clearly seen from any where on earth.....If the earth was flat, that is.

This is another weak point in flat earth fantasies .

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

Okay, well firstly we can theoretically see forever. The only thing limiting the distance we can see in this sense is the size of the object. The human eye can resolve a minimum of 0.01 degrees. If what you're saying is correct then we shouldn't be able to stars as the water vapour in the atmosphere would limit us from seeing out of the atmosphere its self. But any rational person would know particles in the atmosphere don't stop us from seeing over 5km. But this point aside this idea can be disproved with some simple mathematics. We know the average person, lets say 6ft, disappears past the horizon at 5km. This being the horizon or water vapour and particles is irrelevant as we know this phenomena does happen. If the world was flat this would happen at 10.5km away. Basic trigonometry can be used to work this out. So why do people disappear at 5km and not 10.5km? This is one of many problems with the flat Earth theory.

We can maybe see forever into space,  but in the atmosphere there are other factors which limit visibility.  Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visibility
"At sea level, the Rayleigh atmosphere has an extinction coefficient of approximately 13.2 × 10−6 m−1 at a wavelength of 520 nm. This means that in the cleanest possible atmosphere, visibility is limited to about 296 km."

So even if we were high enough to have the horizon at say 400 km  (  so 400 = 3.57 * sqrt(h) ==>  h = 12,554 meters )  lets say 42,000 ft,  then we could still only see things which were around 300 km distant.

But then again some versions of the flat earth theory don't have air.   

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

Okay, well firstly we can theoretically see forever. The only thing limiting the distance we can see in this sense is the size of the object. The human eye can resolve a minimum of 0.01 degrees. If what you're saying is correct then we shouldn't be able to stars as the water vapour in the atmosphere would limit us from seeing out of the atmosphere its self. But any rational person would know particles in the atmosphere don't stop us from seeing over 5km. But this point aside this idea can be disproved with some simple mathematics. We know the average person, lets say 6ft, disappears past the horizon at 5km. This being the horizon or water vapour and particles is irrelevant as we know this phenomena does happen. If the world was flat this would happen at 10.5km away. Basic trigonometry can be used to work this out. So why do people disappear at 5km and not 10.5km? This is one of many problems with the flat Earth theory.

The distance to the horizon depends on the height of the observer. The higher the observer is, the greater the distance. The placement of crow's nest and radar antennas on the highest maps on ships is an example of why the greatest height enables the greatest distance to the horizon. If the earth was flat, there would be no need for this. Those on the bridge on the ship would be able to see just as far as the sailor in the crow's nest.......If the earth was flat.

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

Okay, well firstly we can theoretically see forever. The only thing limiting the distance we can see in this sense is the size of the object. The human eye can resolve a minimum of 0.01 degrees. If what you're saying is correct then we shouldn't be able to stars as the water vapour in the atmosphere would limit us from seeing out of the atmosphere its self. But any rational person would know particles in the atmosphere don't stop us from seeing over 5km. But this point aside this idea can be disproved with some simple mathematics. We know the average person, lets say 6ft, disappears past the horizon at 5km. This being the horizon or water vapour and particles is irrelevant as we know this phenomena does happen. If the world was flat this would happen at 10.5km away. Basic trigonometry can be used to work this out. So why do people disappear at 5km and not 10.5km? This is one of many problems with the flat Earth theory.

One argument of flat earth is that you can only see so far on earth because you are looking through the atmosphere when you are looking toward the horizon. However, the sun, the moon and the stars can be clearly seen on the horizon. This was one of the things the Titanic survivors in lifeboats remarked upon. They could see stars rising and setting on the horizon. Which also proves the curvature and rotation of the earth. And once again this also proves that the distance to the horizon is dependent on the height of the observer.

Quote from: Itchy_Arris on April 28, 2015, 11:41:53 AM

We can't see forever. There is water vapour and particles in the atmosphere. On a clear day, you can see the person until your eyes can't resolve them anymore, and they appear to blend in with the horizon.

So your saying that if they seem to disappear when looking from a naked eye, if you get some binoculars then you can see them again.

Yes. There are videos of people on beaches, who appear to be looking out into nothing but sea, but with the right equipment, they're able to zoom in and see ships or land you should not be able to see on a ball or oblate sphere.

You answer your own questions as though you're trolling.

Yes. There are videos of people on beaches, who appear to be looking out into nothing but sea, but with the right equipment, they're able to zoom in and see ships or land you should not be able to see on a ball or oblate sphere.

You answer your own questions as though you're trolling.
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This is what they do. They're actually paid to do it by the anti-NASA.