36. Incorrect Flat-Earth Theory: Boats Disappear Over The Horizon Because Of Distance, Not Curvature
One of the most common experiments showing that the Earth is round is to take a boat with horizontally striped sails. Send the ship down a smooth-surfaced, flat river or pond, and after a certain distance, the stripes on the sails will start to disappear from the bottom up. People believe that the boat is going further away, making it harder for them to see it. However, what would be the cause of the ship disappearing from the bottom up then? They don’t have any other answer for that either, but still, believe it.
Nevertheless, flat earthers insist that this experiment does not show that the Earth is a globe. If the horizontal stripes begin to disappear from the bottom up, they will argue and say the reason is simply that the distance is so great. It has nothing to do with the curvature of the Earth. It doesn’t make much sense to many others, but that doesn’t matter to them. It’s safe to say that many people just won’t believe scientific facts, even when they see it with their very own eyes.