Table of contents Christopher Columbus Proved the Earth is Round The Earth is the Center of the Universe The Earth Is Just 75 000 Years old 8 The Earth Never Changes 10 Comets Earthquakes and Volcanoes Form Mountains 12 The Weather causes Earthquakes 14 Magnetic Poles Take a Long Time to Reverse 16 The Earth Is Hollow 18 The Whole World Once Flooded 20 Rivers Always Flow in the Same Direction 22 Earth Moving through Space Causes Tides 24 Extinct Volcanoes Will Never Erupt Again 26 Fact Sheet 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the
Busted Christopher Columbus Proved the Earth Is Round Ancient and medieval thinkers sailed in 1492 Aristotle was one of studied the shape of the earth They those early thinkers He was alive argued whether the earth was round in the fourth century BCE In his or flat Then Christopher Columbus writing he theorized the world was sailed west to get to India round His evidence was the earth's A common myth is that his voyage shadow on the moon During a lunar proved the world was round eclipse Earth's shadow was round not square However people knew Earth was round well before Columbus Other ancient experiments helped determine the world was round Some scientists based their theories Columbus was the first European to sail around the world on the stars Certain constellations were visible only in certain locations On a flat Earth the stars would be in the same place It would not matter where a person stood But people in Egypt saw different stars than those who lived farther north Ancient thinkers concluded the earth must have a curved shape That curve blocked
out certain stars depending on where someone stood The stars scientists observed in the night sky helped them understand the Some ancient thinkers were sure the world was round They proposed earth was round sailing to India They did not have a fear of sailing off the edge of a flat world NOT FLAT BUT NOT ROUND 24 898 Number of miles 40 070 km around Earth's circumference The earth is not actually perfectly round Earth is shaped like an ellipsoid It is bigger around the middle than at the top The earth's fast spinning causes the bulge at the middle The earth is not a perfect ellipsoid though Mountains and deep trenches make the surface a bumpy irregular shape Christopher Columbus was not the first to prove the world is round Ancient thinkers theorized the earth was round These thinkers used stars and the moon as evidence of a round Earth
