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If the earth is flat then how do..

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6Metal6Head6

If the earth is flat then how do..
« on: May 06, 2006, 03:08:32 AM »
I'm sorry but you locked my topic a bit too early my question wasn't answered ty.

Q: "When traveling in a straight direction, you will always reach the same point on the globe from where you started. How can this happen if the world is flat?"

A: You need to have evidence for this to be true. Also, define "straight." Remember, the northern point on the compass is, under most circumstances (unless near the centre or deep in the ice wall), pointing toward the centre of the Earth. Therefore, if you follow your compass due east or due west, ending up at the same point you started from, you've just gone around the world in a circle


What if you do not abide by compass rules and just fly one way and keep going that way not letting the controls move you left or right.
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joffenz

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« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2006, 03:58:28 AM »
You will eventually fly off the edge of the Earth.
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Chaltier

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« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2006, 10:08:22 AM »
Actually, the FAQ did answer your question, as it was stated in your previous thread.

As for this updated one, you'd probably fall off the edge, assuming you could find it. The ice wall doesn't like navigational tools much.


--Chal
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Unimportant

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« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2006, 11:29:26 AM »
Indeed, if you flew in a "striaght line" by pure dead reckoning, you would probably fly off the edge of the earth.

Luckily, people do not do this. Ever.
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Tranquil

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« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2006, 04:23:07 PM »
I have an idea.

Why don't FE'rs traverse an expedition to find the edge of the world?  Surely with modern technology a live video feed could be trasmitted.  That would make it possible even if they fell of the edge of the world, video data would be present.

Question:  Ships that travel to Russia.  Once I made a three hour trip from Alaska to Russia and then back, just because I could (yes it was a vacation and a little excess never hurt anyone).  How was that possible?
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CaptainSallyJacks

If the earth is flat then how do..
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2006, 04:25:20 PM »
For petes sake, will you people make up your minds? First I read that falling off the edge of the earth is impossible, now you say you can fly off the edge? You make no sense to me!
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Unimportant

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« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2006, 06:04:26 PM »
Quote from: "CaptainSallyJacks"
For petes sake, will you people make up your minds? First I read that falling off the edge of the earth is impossible, now you say you can fly off the edge? You make no sense to me!

I'm quite certain no one has ever said falling off the earth is possible, only that the government would stop you before you got there, or your navigation instruments would malfunction so as to lead you away from the rim.
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Tranquil

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If the earth is flat then how do..
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2006, 08:08:24 PM »
Quote from: "Unimportant"
Quote from: "CaptainSallyJacks"
For petes sake, will you people make up your minds? First I read that falling off the edge of the earth is impossible, now you say you can fly off the edge? You make no sense to me!

I'm quite certain no one has ever said falling off the earth is possible, only that the government would stop you before you got there, or your navigation instruments would malfunction so as to lead you away from the rim.


Has anyone actually ever tried that?  Without using navigation instruments or anything?

I'm quite sure that the entire theory would be proven or disproven by...... actually I'll make a new thread since this one has been spammed and my question is now moot.
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turin

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If the earth is flat then how do..
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2006, 10:08:34 PM »
I realize that I am basing this purely on holywood's depiction of reality, but...

There was this movie called "Flight of the Pheonix" or something, and there was a scene in which one of the stranded passengers simply wanted to walk out of the Gobi desert to get help.  He was advised against this for various reasons, but the one that I thought would be appropriate was the "slightly shorter/stronger leg" theory (as I choose to call it).  The basic point of the admonishment was that, even if the strandee attempted a perfectly straight path out of the desert by line-of-sight, he would likely veer slightly in one direction, and over the course of his journey only manage to travel in a huge deadly circular path.

I must admit, I have never attempted this experiment myself, but I think it does bring up an interesting point.  We rely on our (usually electronic these days) instrumentation to guide us in so-called straight line paths.  But, if we are to assume that these guidence systems are actually subversively guiding us in circles, then we must rely on our own phisiological sence of direction, which presumably can get us into trouble even on such a small scale as the Gobi desert, much more on the scale of the entire Earth.
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Gustave5436

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« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2006, 10:23:16 PM »
or, maybe we have a kind of pathfinding like birds (only much weaker as we don't migrate).  However, birds use the Earth's magnetic fields so they get thrown off by the inconsistencies near the poles as well.
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mariaconda

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« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2006, 09:54:25 AM »
Use a gyroscope. Problem solved.
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Erasmus

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« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2006, 10:30:06 AM »
Quote from: "mariaconda"
Use a gyroscope. Problem solved.


You could try that.  Has anybody ever done so?

I would caution that a true gyroscope will maintain its angular momentum with respect to an absolute rotational reference frame.  If somebody tried to fly around a spherical world along a great circle orbit, their gyroscope's angular momentum tensor will also have to turn through 360° of arc.

-Erasmus
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mariaconda

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« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2006, 04:53:01 AM »
I've done it. Worked like a charm. It was no problem at all as I used a special gyroscope with gimbals that are not prone to be affected by unforseen laws of physics. Flew in a straight line all the way around the world :)
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The_Smee

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« Reply #13 on: May 15, 2006, 06:17:49 AM »
erm, they use gyroscopes on ships, and the ships dont have a problem sailing round the world.
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mariaconda

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« Reply #14 on: May 15, 2006, 07:19:29 AM »
Yes, but those gyroscopes are faulty as they dont compensate for the effects you will see described in Erasmus's next posts. You need a gryoscope that is constructed in such a way that it can compensate for any unforseen force, failure or other natural or un-natural interference with the equipment. This kind of a gyroscope is a little bit more expencive to construct than the regular ones, but it's the only way to go if you truly want to travel in a straight line. Otherwise it would be impossible to fly over the south pole as all other methods of navigation would fail. I knew this beforehand so I went for the specially constructed gyroscope elliminate all potential problems. That's why I had no problem flying across the south pole in a straight line.

Erasmus's last argument about 'angular momentum tensor' is on the otherhand completly irrelevant as the earth would have to be a sphere for for the proposed effect to take place. It doesnt matter if gyroscope takes you off course circumnavigating a sphere if the point is to prove that you are actually on a sphere. Your argument has already established that perfectly :)
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Erasmus

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« Reply #15 on: May 15, 2006, 09:17:45 AM »
Quote from: "mariaconda"
I've done it. Worked like a charm. It was no problem at all as I used a special gyroscope with gimbals that are not prone to be affected by unforseen laws of physics. Flew in a straight line all the way around the world :)


Congratulations.  I guess the world must be round :)

-Erasmus
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Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?
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Erasmus

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« Reply #16 on: May 15, 2006, 09:26:05 AM »
Quote from: "Erasmus"
Congratulations.  I guess the world must be round :)


Nevermind, I take that back.  I should have said:

Congratulations.  I guess the surface of the world must be a manifold with at least one closed geodesic :)

-Erasmus
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mariaconda

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« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2006, 12:27:02 PM »
I rule! I suck the hardest!! (forgive my suckie english, I'm from Sweden. Sometimes I don't know what I write)
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Joe_Mama

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« Reply #18 on: May 16, 2006, 09:20:02 AM »
Quote
I have an idea.

Why don't FE'rs traverse an expedition to find the edge of the world? Surely with modern technology a live video feed could be trasmitted. That would make it possible even if they fell of the edge of the world, video data would be present.


That would be a great idea!  Hey, if illegal immigrants can get past our border patrol over here in the states, I'm pretty sure we could send people over to the end of the earth without a problem.  Hey, why not hire some Mexicans?  They are experts at this!  We can pay them $100 a pop!  Maybe even less!   :D
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