Uma refutação científica de algumas crenças terraplanistas

Abstract

This study investigated the flat-earth belief that postulates strongly that the planet Earth is a disk with the North Pole at its center and the South Pole at its edges. The flat Earth belief dates back to ancient times, and after countless observations, experiments, and verifications have been completely disproved. However, amazingly, it has become widespread again nowadays and is mostly found on the internet, especially in terraforming websites and video platforms. Aiming to know the main widespread terraplanist beliefs disseminated in virtual environments, we researched the subject in this same medium and listed the following topics for analysis: the movements of the Moon and the Sun, the refraction of light in the atmosphere, and the Earth's rotation. These topics were addressed in separate sections, in which we sought to identify the conceptual flaws and physical, astronomical, and mathematical arguments that refute the terraplanet beliefs. Throughout the described process, it became evident that the only consensus among the flat Earth models spread by the terraplanist communities is that our planet is not spherically shaped and that the terraplanist assumptions stem from misunderstanding or misinterpretation of scientific knowledge and its method. Thus, it became patent that, for them, the only source of truth is sensitive experience and common sense, which excludes any possibility of scientific knowledge.