Flat Earth Discussion Boards > Flat Earth Q&A
Conflicting rate of curvature?
Spank86:
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 03:46:06 PM ---FOR EXAMPLE: Let's say that ship disappears at 7 miles out (whatever the distance is, doesn't matter for this analogy), and Engineers build a Railroad track 7 miles long.
--- End quote ---
It kinda does matter if your entire argument is to show that the curvature isn't small enough to be difficult to notice.
I still don't understand why you think railroad engineers ever bother about making flat tracks anyway, they try to grade hills and bore relatively straight but it's just not important to them if stuff goes up and down a bit and if you bore from two ends at once well you're both off by the same amount.
sixstringthing:
--- Quote from: Spank86 on December 08, 2013, 03:52:48 PM ---
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 03:46:06 PM ---Do you say the tracks aren't perfectly straight from the steel mill? OK, how much are they off? It must be an incredibly small amount.
--- End quote ---
They are off by exactly the curvature off the earth of course. That's the very point of Round earth theory.
Gravity pulls to the center of the round earth so when anything made with a spirit level it minutely follows the curvature.
Plus individual rails wouldn't need to be curved anyway, think of the joins between the rail, what are the tolerances there? easily enough to allow a curvature.
--- End quote ---
Spank:
So you are saying that "gravity" pulls the steel railroad tracks onto the curvature of the Earth and if that doesn't work then the tolerances in the joints will allow for 70' or fall?
If the Earth was shaped like a Basketball and you laid 100 miles of virtually straight steel Railroad Track out, the track would stick up in the AIR after a few miles!
I do NOT think "gravity" is going to pull the steel Railroad track down to conform with the "curvature" of the "Basketball", do you?
I do NOT think the critical tolerances in the joints of Railroad tracks are enough to keep the Railroad track from sticking up in the air after a few miles traveling along the curvature of the "Basketball".
So you think virtually perfectly straight Railroad tracks will be pulled down to meet the curvature of the "Basketball".
Wow, amazing.
Scintific Method:
sixstringthing, I call you ignorant because everything you say displays ignorance of the subject being discussed. I have tried my best to rectify this ignorance, by providing diagrams, examples, and explanations, in as clear a format as I can manage, but have been met by yet more ignorance. You clearly do not understand the subject at hand, and seem also to have no desire to. For this reason, I pity you. That said, I have not given up yet! Please, read on, and try to pay attention this time!
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 04:05:15 PM ---So you are saying that "gravity" pulls the steel railroad tracks onto the curvature of the Earth and if that doesn't work then the tolerances in the joints will allow for 70' or fall?
--- End quote ---
That's exactly what happens. The required amount of flex for a rail to match the curve of the earth is minimal. Do the engineers use bent sections of track to go over a hill? No, because the track flexes enough to follow the curve of the hill (which, you must admit, is far greater than that of the earth). Do they use bent sections around corners? No, because the track has enough flexibility in it to simply be bent as it is laid.
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 04:05:15 PM ---If the Earth was shaped like a Basketball and you laid 100 miles of virtually straight steel Railroad Track out, the track would stick up in the AIR after a few miles!
--- End quote ---
You must have missed my remark about the 3km section of perfectly straight track near my home. To refresh you, a spirit level placed on the track at either end indicates a gentle slop toward the middle, yet the track is exactly straight! Please, give some thought to the reason for that.
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 03:46:06 PM ---Engineers don't calculate long spans of ANY type to include curvature of the Earth. That's because there is none.
--- End quote ---
Really? Never? Can you prove that there has never been a long man-made structure that included calculations of curvature?
--- Quote from: sixstringthing on December 08, 2013, 03:46:06 PM ---If there WERE curvature of the Earth (think of the ship sailing away), Engineers would have to design a hell of a Drop into any Railroad track that was the length as the same distance as the distance away that ship is when it "sails over the horizon".
--- End quote ---
No. Please read the above comments on railroads. And for pity's sake, learn something about the subject, and give it some careful thought, before trying to argue it!
sixstringthing:
Scintific Method:
You said: "Really? Never? Can you prove that there has never been a long man-made structure that included calculations of curvature?"
When you get nowhere by name calling you get down to your last, most desperate hope at smearing the obvious with your fanciful imagery. You want me to prove a negative?
You want ME to prove there has never been something? Anything? LOL. Silly boy. Don't you know it's the act of desperation to ask your opponent to prove a negative?
UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, that turns the tables!
It is YOU who MUST prove a positive (or admit defeat... which you will!).
So... PROVE there HAS been a man-made structure that took into account the "curvature" of the Basketball (Earth).
Go ahead sir, prove it. Find one. JUST ONE! Of all the miracles created by man and huge distances spanned by tunnels, bridges, Railroads, Highways and Canals across the entire world, please fine me JUST ONE that took into consideration the "curvature" of your Basketball-shaped Earth.
When you can NOT find JUST ONE example, please return immediate with an appropriate apology for your confusion over such simple matters.
If, however, you DO find JUST ONE EXAMPLE of an Engineering Calculation (of any type structure, anywhere on Earth) that takes into consideration the "curvature" of your Basketball-shaped Earth, I will glad apologize for the "ignorance" you have repeatedly claimed I have.
I eagerly await your response:
PROVE IT!!!
hewholikespie:
There have been countless, Sixstring.
None of them are on the scale you think of, because there's no structure with a singular component long enough and also inflexible enough to require being machined to the curvature of the earth.
But there are quite a number of structures that require the curvature to function.
They whiz over us all the time. Wouldn't work without the curvature, you see.
But for a terrestrial example, the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, a 102 mile bridge, Bang Na expressway in Thailand, at 34 miles, and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in southern Louisiana, which is 23.83 miles entirely over water. All have to take the curvature of the earth into account, not for individual pieces, but for how they join together to form a coherent whole.
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