Is Earth spherical or flat? And how does this prove? As young astronomers, students from twelve islands in the North Aegean and the Dodecanese participated simultaneously in a common experiment in order to prove the shape of the Earth.
The experiment was attended by students from 34 Gymnasiums and High Schools of twelve different islands: Limnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria, Lipsi, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Astypalaia, Rhodes and Kassos.
All students the same day and just at the time of the upper solar intercourse, That is, while the sun is at the maximum height in the sky, they measured the length of the shadow of a pillar, which they had placed one and a half meters high in their school yard.
If the Earth was flat, as the rays of the sun would fall parallel, all shadows of the pillars would be equal to all the islands. On the contrary, if the earth is spherical, the shadow of the pole would grow, as we move to the north, that is, as the geometric width increases.
The students They measured the length of the shadow of the Stylos and in the comparative results found that there was a difference in island to island measurements. The shadow of the Stylos in Lemnos was larger than that in Lesvos, which in turn was greater than the shadow in Ikaria and larger than the shadow in Rhodes. It is noteworthy that the maximum difference in the shadow was 18 cm between the two most extreme islands involved, Lemnos and Kassos. Thus, through the experiment, students emphatically proved the sphericality of the earth.
Of the experiment preceded online presentation to students, where the basic principles were discussed, The methodology and goals of the experiment. The experiment looks like the Eratosthenes experiment conducted during the equinoxes and aims to calculate the Earth’s periphery. “However, it is taken for granted that the Earth is spherical and its radius is calculated. We go a step further with our experiment. As young astronomers we wonder what the shape of the earth is, ”, The Astrophysicist of the National Observatory of Athens and scientifically responsible for the program, Alexandros Chiotelis, explains to RES-EIA. He describes that “it was very encouraging that the children were laughing when I told them that the goal of the experiment is to prove the sphericality of the earth.”
The students also found that all the experimental results were very close (within the expected experimental error) in the theoretical prediction of the shadow of the pole as a function of latitude. ‘They were thrilled by the prediction capacity that has Physics and this has to do with the way physics are taught In schools: There is a lack of understanding that this is an experimental science and students do not understand that through physics you interpret the world accurately, ”says Chiotellis.
When the experiment was completed, the students sent to the National Observatory of Athens, in addition to the results of their measurements, and a video with their experiment and the slogan “Science speaks with evidence, pseudosciences and conspiracy theories with unfounded cases. Who do you trust? “
It is noted that the experiment was conducted in the framework of the “Universall: Astronomy for Skates Area”, implemented by the National Observatory of Athens. It is a program of astronomy for secondary education pupils and pupils in acoustic areas, organized in the context of the efforts of the National Observatory of Athens to expand the extroversion and dissemination of science.