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The Earth is round but not a perfect round. It is actually a spherical object with a bulge around its axis which won’t make it flat anyhow. But some people still believe that the Earth is flat. If you are not living under a rock, you might have heard about the Flat Earth Theory where believers deny any facts that might link the world to be a spherical object and instead believe that the Earth is a flat surface. In an alarming poll conducted by YouGov in the United States, 2% of Americans believe that the Earth is Flat. But why so many people have changed their beliefs over the shape of the Earth when in fact, astronomers and researchers found out that the Earth is round several centuries ago.

YouGov conducted a poll consisting of 8,215 participants where 52% people are very religious. The most exciting thing about the poll is that it segregated Flat Earthers from the total population so that there can be a contrasting comparison between these two categories of people. So, 52% of the Flat Earthers are very religious who believe that the Earth’s shape i.e. flat is what they found written in the scripture. When compared to the total Americans in the poll, only 20% of the people considered themselves very religious. More than 84% of the Americans believe that the Earth is round while a feeble 5% still have doubts. On the other hand, 2% of the total population still believes that the Earth is flat which is massive when multiplied by the total population. As per the poll, more than 4% of young millennials aged between 18 to 24 find traction towards the Flat Earth Theory.

Douglas Adams, flat-earth believers constricted the institution of round Earth stating that we live on a round ball covered in gas and we are at the bottom of a deep gravity while a burning nuclear fireball (Sun) is located 90 million away from us and still we think that it is normal. A psychology lecturer at the University of Winchester, Michael Wood said in an interview that almost all the flat earth believers would list down arguments that are usual in the flat earth theory such as fake satellites, fish-eye lenses, celestial gears that produce illusions of poles, and other arguments which are quite popular.

As per few believers, there is a conspiracy going on in the world where NASA is trying to hide the existence of the God. In fact, there is a similar theory of NASA hiding the existence of aliens too. According to Rob Skiba, a flat Earth believer said “The bigger picture many f we have come to believe is hiding God” when asked exactly why NASA is trying to hide the shape of the world from the people. There are many people who have literally joined the league of flat-earthers such as Freddie Flintoff – a former England cricketer, B.o.B – a music artist, etc.

When asked what lies at the edge of a flat Earth which is supposed to be around and flat disc, people respond that there is a giant ice wall that keeps everything on the Earth and the Ocean away from getting near the edge. This is why governments have established bases near the South Pole that prevents any private expedition towards the edge. There are some theories that flat-earthers believe which are as followed –

1. No matter how high you go up in the atmosphere, the horizon is 100% flat with no curvature whatsoever.

2. If Earth was a sphere, why the water is staying flat when it must be wobbling all over the place citing the fact that the Earth is rotating at a colossal speed.

3. If Earth is a spherical body and constantly rotating, the helicopters could simply hover at the same place in the air for sometime so that the Earth could rotate and destination could arrive.

If Earth is round, the pilots would have to make constant adjustments to ensure that the plane doesn’t go into the space.

Excerpted from https://tecake.in/this-is-why-more-than-2-americans-believe-that-earth-is-flat