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Quiz about Flat Earthers Nothing to Fear But Sphere Itself
Quiz about Flat Earthers Nothing to Fear But Sphere Itself

Flat Earthers: Nothing to Fear But Sphere Itself Quiz


It took a while for the sphere-shaped Earth concept to spread around the globe. But don't push Flat Earth believers over the edge or they'll get angry. Instead, take this well-rounded quiz about Flat Earth history.

A multiple-choice quiz by Billkozy. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
Billkozy
Time
3 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
416,269
Updated
May 07 24
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
217
Last 3 plays: 173Kraut (4/10), StevenColleman (0/10), chang50 (6/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Different ancient civilizations had varying ideas at what lay in the center of the disk that Flat Earthers advocate. An Iraqi tablet from 1000 B.C. showed which land as their center? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Ancient cultures thought of the Earth as flat, but who is noted as being the first to conceive of a spherically-shaped Earth? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. It wasn't until three centuries after the initial spherical Earth proposal took shape (no pun intended) that it gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community. Which third century BCE Greek astronomer and mathematician led the way? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Greek philosopher Anaximander (610-546 BCE) had what notion of the shape of the Earth? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. What sort of geometric figure would the concept of a Flat Earth be most akin to? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In the medieval Islamic world, who was Al-Biruni (973-1048 CE)? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage was an attempt to prove that the Earth is round.


Question 8 of 10
8. According to Christopher Cullen's "A Chinese Eratosthenes of the Flat Earth: A Study of a Fragment of Cosmology in Huai Nan tzu" (1976), in China the Earth was described as flat and what shape until the 17th century, when Western science revealed evidence of our planet's spherical shape? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. When a Flat Earth theory was revived in the late 19th and early 20th century, the believers adhered to what sort of approach instead of the traditional scientific approach? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Although modern "societies" or "organizations" that fostered a belief in a flat Earth have been around prior to the 20th century, a new one was formed in the 1950s by the writer Samuel Shenton who called it what? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Different ancient civilizations had varying ideas at what lay in the center of the disk that Flat Earthers advocate. An Iraqi tablet from 1000 B.C. showed which land as their center?

Answer: Babylon

In ancient cosmologies, the Earth was depicted as a flat disk as reflected in their religious texts and mythologies. And, usually, a primordial ocean or river would surround that land. Of course, each ancient civilization would picture its own land as the center of the disk. That tablet in Iraq showed Babylon as the center which is where present-day Iraq is. Babylon was a center of power and culture, and it was natural for the civilization to depict its prominence in the ancient Near East as the center of the Earth.

It wasn't long, however, before Babylonian astronomers had started to make amazing leaps forward in their scientific observances and interpretations. Long before the Europeans did, the Babylonians were the first people to track the planet Jupiter, using abstract mathematics, "applying it to astronomy in a new way" according to astrophysicist Mathieu Ossendrijver of Humboldt University.
2. Ancient cultures thought of the Earth as flat, but who is noted as being the first to conceive of a spherically-shaped Earth?

Answer: Pythagoras

The early Greek philosopher Pythagoras proposed a spherical Earth in the 6th century BCE. Parmenides, and Aristotle would soon follow suit. Pythagoras had observed the curved shape of the Earth's shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse, which helped lead him to his idea of a spherical Earth, along with his observation that ships would disappear hull-first over the horizon with masts staying visible longer.

The other ancient thinkers in the answer choices were Flat Earthers.
3. It wasn't until three centuries after the initial spherical Earth proposal took shape (no pun intended) that it gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community. Which third century BCE Greek astronomer and mathematician led the way?

Answer: Eratosthenes

Around 240 BCE, Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference using measurements of shadows cast by the sun at various locations which, in turn, gave evidence to the fact that the Earth was shaped like a sphere. The angle of the Sun's rays at noon on the summer solstice in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Syene allowed Eratosthenes to arrive at his estimates with amazing accuracy. Since then, the spherical model of the Earth has been refined and confirmed through various scientific observations and experiments over centuries.

The other ancient thinkers in the answer choices were Flat Earthers.
4. Greek philosopher Anaximander (610-546 BCE) had what notion of the shape of the Earth?

Answer: A flat disk lying atop a cylinder

Anaximander's concept of the Earth as a flat disk resting on a cylindrical base was known as the "Anaximandrian system." In his idea, the Earth existed at the center of the universe, with the other celestial bodies arranged in concentric rings around it.

The flat Earth floated freely within the cylindrical enclosure in Anaximander's revolutionary model. Before his model, the flat Earth was thought to float on water or even be held up by mythological persona.
5. What sort of geometric figure would the concept of a Flat Earth be most akin to?

Answer: A plane

The two-dimensional geometrical figure called a plane is a flat surface that is often conceptualized mathematically as extending infinitely in all directions. The plane is one of the fundamental building blocks of geometry along with such objects as a point, a line, a circle, an angle, and a polygon all of which are used prominently in mathematical branches of geometry and physics.

A torus is a three-dimensional shape - a regular ring, shaped like a tire or doughnut. A pyramid is a three-dimensional polyhedron with a polygon base coming to an apex projected up from the straight edges of the base. Different types of pyramids include those with a triangular base, called tetrahedrons. Those with quadrilateral bases are square pyramids, pentagons bases are pentagonal pyramid, hexagon bases are hexagonal pyramids, etc. An oloid shape is based on two congruent circles, perpendicular to each other, while the center of each is intersected by the circumference of the other.

Projections of a flat Earth plot the surface of the Earth using a flat plane. The antiquated and disproven Flat Earth conceptualizes the Earth's shape as a plane or disk.
6. In the medieval Islamic world, who was Al-Biruni (973-1048 CE)?

Answer: Persian mathematician who proposed a spherical Earth shape

The Persian polymath Al-Biruni was a significant contributor to Islamic knowledge of astronomy and geography. His writings on the shape and size of the Earth offered up a spherical model of the Earth which he based on empirical observations and mathematical calculations. Al-Biruni employed trigonometry in his estimate of the Earth's radius using the measurements of a mountain's height and the dip in the horizon from the top, resulting in a remarkably accurate calculation for his time of 3928.77 miles. The Earth's actual radius is 3,963 miles from the center to the Equator, or 3,950 miles from the center to the Poles (due to the Earth's "oblate spheroid" shape and not being a sphere).

The Islamic scholar Ibn al-Haytham, who lived around the same time, also helped to support a round Earth concept.
7. Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage was an attempt to prove that the Earth is round.

Answer: False

By that time, most educated people had already been schooled in the knowledge that the Earth was a globe. Christopher Columbus was instead trying to convince Europeans that the Earth was smaller than was commonly believed. If he could prove that, then the journey to Asia would be much more manageable.

Columbus was actually ahead of the thinking of many in his assumption that the Earth was more of an oblate spheroid than a sphere, that is, with a bulge at the equator. Since he only had the Atlantic Ocean as a reference point, his imagining of that bulge was more localized. He had accounted for a larger region on the other side of the world.
8. According to Christopher Cullen's "A Chinese Eratosthenes of the Flat Earth: A Study of a Fragment of Cosmology in Huai Nan tzu" (1976), in China the Earth was described as flat and what shape until the 17th century, when Western science revealed evidence of our planet's spherical shape?

Answer: Square

Back in those pre-spherical Earth days in China, the Earth was thought to be flat and square and had a round dome over it where the heavens resided. Chinese astronomers during the Ming and Qing dynasties however, began supporting the idea of a spherically-shaped Earth. One figure helping to influence this belief was Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary who traveled to China in the late 16th century, along with other Jesuit scholars.
9. When a Flat Earth theory was revived in the late 19th and early 20th century, the believers adhered to what sort of approach instead of the traditional scientific approach?

Answer: Zetetic Method

The Universal Zetetic Society was founded in the 19th century. The Zetetic Method, or approach, contrasts with the scientific method in that Zeteticism emphasizes direct observation and sensory experience over scientific experimentation and theoretical models. Today, the most well-known organization advocating belief in a flat Earth is the Flat Earth Society.

The other answer choices are all various forms of scientific methodology.
10. Although modern "societies" or "organizations" that fostered a belief in a flat Earth have been around prior to the 20th century, a new one was formed in the 1950s by the writer Samuel Shenton who called it what?

Answer: The International Flat Earth Research Society

Modern Flat Earthers discount the actual science for a number of reasons including conspiracy theories involving many government departments, leading Flat Earthers to devise other creative concepts of the solar system's construction. They also dismiss gravity, claiming that objects do not accelerate downward, but rather accelerate upward at 32 feet per second squared, forced upward by dark energy.

Modern Flat Earthers say the Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and with Antarctica, a tall wall of ice, around the rim. Mr.

Shenton, a writer from England, was proponent of the belief that the Earth is flat and opposed the consensus among scientists that our planet was globe-shaped. Around 1956 he founded the International Flat Earth Research Society, which has since become more commonly known as the Flat Earth Society.
Source: Author Billkozy

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