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[-] don@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

So you’re saying the earth is a very smooth ball bearing. This despite being classified as an oblate spheroid.

[-] Deuces@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I'm guessing smoothness doesn't consider the non-spherical shape of the planet, just the bumpiness of it. But I'm also some random on the Internet, so who knows

[-] don@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I think I’m missing what the smoothness of the planet has to do with it being basically an iron-nickel ball covered by a bit of rock, but being a meat popsicle, I tend to miss a lot of things.

[-] ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I missed all of this, but you all seem swell!

[-] don@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

You as well, friend!

[-] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The difference in diameter between the pole and the equator is only about 26 miles.

7926 miles vs 7900 miles

So a difference of about 0.03%

Yeah I'd say that's pretty spherical

Edit: Rereading this it comes of a bit rougher than I intended. Basically what I'm saying is something can be spherical without being a perfect sphere, infact if to be a sphere (in common usage of the word) only applied to perfect examples of a sphere than nothing would be a sphere. Definitions are pretty wishy-washy a lot of the times, especially when it comes to describing the world as it is.

Earth is an oblique spheroid, technically. But calling it a sphere is true enough to observers that I'd say it still counts.

this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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