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Can you think of any way of getting around this by just using sticks and a watch?
Throw the stick in the air, time how long it takes to fall, explain gravity to flat earther, then strike him on the head with the stick.
Gravity is the flat earther's nightmare, it seems. My understanding of their explanation is that the world is moving through space, and is constantly accelerating, much like going 0-60 in a car pins you back against the seat. But, of course, when you reach 60, and then cruise at that speed, you are no longer pinned back by acceleration. One must continue to accelerate to feel this force. And, of course, if one is constantly accelerating, then one will eventually reach light speed.
So why is the Earth constantly accelerating, where is the source of this acceleration, and why are we not seeing the rest of the universe become flatter and flatter as our relative velocity increases?
Also, they like to quote the bible, and the bible says that the Earth shall not be moved, or words to that effect. They use this biblical source to "prove" that the earth can't be rotating on its axis and orbitting the sun. But of course they're happy for us to go through space at an ever increasing velocity.
You can prove the world is round beyond any reasonable doubt by observing gravity. Once you have accepted this, then you don't need to worry about whether the sticks are telling the earth radius or the earth-sun distance, because it's obvious which one it is.
If you still insist on proving that the world is round in this way, well get two people to do the sticks experiment at the same time at different places in the world (with both at the same latitude at sea level). If your measurements are (nearly) identical, then you're measuring the earth radius. If your measurements differ by more than a very small amount, then you're measuring the earth-sun distance, which will be different from point A and point B on a flat model in which the sun is only thousands of miles away.
Once you've noticed that the measurements are the same, hit the flat earther with the stick.
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