r/BeAmazed • u/Awkward_Click3061 • Nov 11 '23

Science Look at that

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187

u/Azsde Nov 11 '23

Since those two places are quite far away from each other, how were they able to compare the shadows at the same time? There were obviously no way of instant communication back then.

224

u/[deleted] Nov 11 '23

[deleted]

4

u/2called_chaos Nov 11 '23

So was it established fact at that point how far the sun is away or at least that the rays are, for all intents and purposes, actually parallel?

4

u/Cualkiera67 Nov 11 '23

That was an assumption necessary for the experiment. It wasn't proved by it.

If the sun was small and super close to the earth, then the shadows difference wouldn't necessarily mean the earth was curved.

1

u/Naimadean Nov 11 '23

Ironically, it's this idea that a lot of flat earthers use to justify their beliefs. Fortunately, there is other supportive evidence that we can use to conclude the earth is round.