The idea that gravity is due to upward acceleration also causes other problems. I explained last week that this is in conflict with evidence – we know that the gravitational acceleration is most definitely not the same everywhere on earth. As a consequence, the apparent gravitational acceleration is the same everywhere on earth. They mostly agree though that gravity does not exist, and that the observations we normally attribute to gravity come instead from the upward acceleration of the flat earth. And a minority of flat earthers believe that earth is really an infinite plane. An alternative is the so-called bipolar model where both poles are on the disk, surrounded by water that’s held by a rim of something, maybe ice or rocks. But not all flat earthers sign up to this. The most popular flat earth model is that of a disk where the North pole is in the middle and the south pole is an ice wall on the edge of the disk. More importantly, I also want to explain why you should not be embarrassed if you can’t remember how we know that the earth is round.īut first I have to tell you what flat earthers actually believe and how they got there. Today, I want to tell you why I nevertheless think flat earthers are neither stupid nor anti-scientific.

Here you have a group of people steadfastly rejecting evidence that’s right in their face. LIVE SURVEY RESULTSData from YouGov Profiles suggests a link between belief in a flat earth and spirituality. For some flat earthers, evidence of the earth’s shape may be found in scripture – more than half of Flat earthers (52%) consider themselves “very religious,” compared to just a fifth of all Americans (20%).I, as many people in science communication, am fascinated with flat earthers. Young millennials, ages 18 to 24, are likelier than any other age group to say they believe the Earth is flat (4%). LIVE SURVEY RESULTSWhile an overwhelming majority of Americans (84%) believe that the Earth is round, at least 5% of the public say they used to believe that but now have their doubts.įlat earthers find traction in their beliefs among a younger generation of Americans. Those who believe the Earth is flat vary in the exact theories, but whether they believe in science or religious literature as the basis for their claims, a new YouGov study reveals that 2% of Americans resolutely say the earth is flat.

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