DDO Tier Tournament 2-Flat Earth Theory vs Spherical Earth Theory

Thanks to my opponent for his arguments!I will be using this round to provide opening contentions as well. 1. AS SEEN FROM SPACE The first and foremost reason we have to believe that the Earth is round is that we have seen Earth from outer space and witnessed for ourselves that Earth is, indeed, spherical (source: http://www.space.com...). This alone is reason enough to completely dismiss Flat Earth "theory". Nonetheless, I will provide even more evidence of a Round Earth; evidence that can be observed without even leaving the planet......2. HORIZON OBSERVATIONS When watching the horizon from a coastal shore, we can see that departing ships do not simply fade into the distance as they should if the Earth were flat, but that they disappear/sink under the horizon as they approach it. This shows that there is curvature to the surface of the ocean, and, by extension, that there is a curvature to the surface of the Earth, thus proving the Earth is round. This picture shows the disappearing/sinking effect in question: (source: http://theflatearthsociety.org...) This diagram demonstrates why the disappearing/sinking effect shows curvature: (source: http://www.smarterthanthat.com...) ... 3. LUNAR ECLIPSES Lunar eclipses are caused by the shadow of the Earth being cast onto the Moon, as demonstrated by the following diagram. (source: http://www.drivehq.com...)During lunar eclipses, we can see the shadow being cast upon the moon, and *clearly* identify it as one being cast by a round object, thus showing that the Earth is round. (sources: http://www.umich.edu...)...4. CIRCLING THE EARTH There are records of people circumnavigating the entire Earth in a manner that would be impossible if the Earth were flat. Take the example of Ferdinand Magelland's voyage back in the 16th century. He went straight from Spain, to the southern tip of South America, to the Philippines, to the southern tip of Africa, and all the way back to Spain. (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk...)Taking this route would be logically impossible on a flat earth, and many such voyages have been taken since, proving almost beyond a doubt that the Earth is round (source: http://en.wikipedia.org...). ...5. CENTER OF GRAVITYAll objects have a center of gravity; a central point that the force of gravity pulls other matter towards, with the strength of that force depending on how much mass the other objects have and how far away from the center those other objects are (http://science.howstuffworks.com...). If the Earth were flat, its center of gravity would naturally be in the center of it. But on a flat surface, not all points are equidistant from the center, and thus, depending on your position, the effects of gravity would be radically different. This is obviously not consistent with reality, though... gravity has the same effects everywhere on Earth, consistently accelerating falling objects at 9.81 m/s2 (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com...) (source: http://www.smarterthanthat.com...)A flat earth is not consistent with the laws of physics and their observed effects. However, with a spherical earth, this problem is solved, because all points on a sphere's surface are equidistant from the center (i.e. center of gravity), meaning that the force of gravity's effects would be the same no matter what location, only varying with object mass. This is much more consistent with reality. (source: http://www.smarterthanthat.com...)... 6. TIME ZONES If the Earth were flat, then it would be the same time everywhere around the world since the entire world would be on a single plane. Yet this is blatantly false... it can easily be observed that different areas of the world are experiencing totally different times due to the rotation of the spherical Earth and the position of the Sun (http://www.timeanddate.com...). Once again, it has been shown that a Flat Earth is not consistent with reality. ...CONCLUSION All the evidence goes to show that the Earth is round, and that a flat Earth is nearly impossible. I hand the debate back over to my opponent.