17 Nov 2016 18:44:42
Arguments for and against flat earth. Earth curvature and the Suez Canal?
"The distance between the Red Sea at Suez and the Mediterranean Sea is 100 statute miles, the datum line of the Canal being 26 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and is continued horizontally the whole way from sea to sea, there not being a single lock on the Canal, the surface of the water being parallel with the datum line. It is thus clear that there is no curvature or globularity for the whole hundred miles between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; had there been, according to the Astronomic theory, the middle of the Canal would have been 1,666 feet higher than at either end, whereas the Canal is perfectly horizontal for the whole distance. The Great Canal of China, said to be 700 miles in length, was made without regard to any allowance for supposed curvature, as the Chinese believe the Earth to be a Stationary Plane. I may also add that no allowance was made for it in the North Sea Canal, or in the Manchester Ship Canal, both recently constructed, thus clearly proving that there is no globularity in Earth or Sea, so that the world cannot possibly be a Planet. " -David Wardlaw Scott, "Terra Firma" (134)
3 answers · Geography
Best Answer
Water on the canals don't give out any feeling of straightness or slope of the bed. You need to consider "dry", underwater road or railway tunenls Like the "Chunnel" (English Channel Tunnel) .
You didn't mention the 54 km long Seikan tunnel* between the main island Honshu and the next largest Hokkaido Island, in Japan. It has a 12% gradient at both ends and one side has a further 3% till the midpoint where the water can flow to, but doesn't as that would submerge the tunenl.
You have also forgotten the planned Tsushima tunnel between Japan and Korea that was made to be a straight line and not horizontal (aligned to the gravitational equi-potential that is the Earth curvature without mountains and troughs, made possible in tunneling) which is tangential to the global surface everywhere. Its central point hence dips towards the Earth centre. Cars hurtle down the slope to the mid point and then have to climb up thence to the other end. Only a laser beam can set the straightness of the path and not a spirit leve, l that rides on the equipotential surface. A spirit level shows the dip to the centre that might puzzle a novice.
In the canals you mentioned if the bed is a geometric (Euclidean) straight line nothing happens as water, like in the Oceans flows over such troughs. Have you wondered - Pacific Ocean bed is a curvature too.
poornakumar b · 1 year ago.
