The experiment ended up proving the exact opposite of what Bob Knodel wanted
A Flat Earther spent a staggering amount of cash in an attempt to prove the world is flat – only for the opposite to happen.
Despite ample amounts of evidence proving that our planet is in-fact spherical, the Flat Earth movement is one conspiracy theory is one that just refuses to go away.
Adamant that we’re being lied to by scientists, Flat Earthers have been known to go to extreme ends in order to find evidence for their ‘theories’.
One of the more famous cases of this involved the late YouTuber Bob Knodel, who splashed out an almighty $20k (£15,150) in an attempt to find evidence for his beliefs.
His experiment was shown in the documentary Behind the Curve, which you can watch the trailer for below:
Released on Netflix back in February 2019, Behind the Curve followed prominent Flat Earthers such as Mark Sargent who outlined their beliefs in the documentary.
Several scientists and astrophysicists also appeared in the film to give their views on the Flat Earth movement and its longevity.
During his segment in the documentary, Knodel decided to go beyond arguing his case and prove once and for all that scientific consensus from the last couple of centuries was wrong.
What was Bob Knodel’s Flat Earth experiment?
In order to prove his theory that the Earth was in fact flat, Knodel created an extravagant experiment which set him back tens of thousands of dollars.
To conduct his experiment, Knodel created a laser gyroscope which he believed would debunk the idea that our planet is round.
To put it plainly, Knodel used a camera to film through two holes – which were both the same distance from the ground – while a person stood on the other side was shining a torch at the camera.
Below is a diagram of the YouTuber’s set up for the experiment:
Knodel believed this would prove the Earth is flat. (Netflix)
Knodel claimed that if light could be seen with the camera, and that all of the holes in the fence and his torch were at the same height, then we had definitive proof the world was flat.
However the experiment didn’t go entirely to plan, with Knodel left muttering ‘interesting’ to himself after no light was able to be seen.
He would later attempt to explain the findings in Youtube video, saying: “What we found is, is when we turned on that gyroscope we found that we were picking up a drift. A 15 degree per hour drift.
Bob Knodel spent a lot of money on the failed experiment. (Netflix)
“Now, obviously we were taken aback by that.”
Admitting the results were ‘kind of a problem’, he continued: “We obviously were not willing to accept that, and so we started looking for ways to disprove it was actually registering the motion of the Earth.”
Astronaut waves and flips his camera to shut down flat Earth theory once and for all
Not like we need anymore proof that the Earth is round
An astronaut has shared a video from space which sets the record straight on the ‘flat Earth’ theory once and for all.
The understanding that Earth is round has been a part of our common knowledge for thousands of years.
Despite popular misconceptions regarding 2D maps and the goals of Christopher Columbus, humans have been aware that we live on a spherical shaped planet since the Hellenistic times, with Greek philosopher Pythagoras speculating this before his death in 495 B.C.
And yet… the myth that we live on a flat, table-topped shape world is one that has endured for centuries.
Granted misconceptions about what our planet looks like may have been more widespread hundreds of years ago, however – even in an age characterised by information overload – we’ve still not been able to move past ‘flat Earth’ arguments.
The arguments put forward by flat Earthers must be particularly funny to astronauts, given the fact that they’ve seen our planet in its full spherical beauty plenty of times.
Still not convinced? Here is a video clip from an astronaut showing the Earth is round that has since been shared across social media.
Shared via the account spacemanedu on TikTok, who regularly shares clips taken from astronauts in space, the clip features an astronaut waving to the camera before flipping it around to show his view of Earth. “Someone said Earth was flat,” the video’s caption added.
For anyone who’s still (somehow) not convinced, NASA also regularly shares pictures and videos of Earth taken from space via their International Space Station and NASA Earth Instagram accounts.
Idk, looks pretty round to me. (TikTok / spacemanedu)
Why do people believe that the Earth is flat?
Unlike historical civilisations who may have believed the Earth was flat because they had no evidence to prove otherwise, why does the conspiracy theory still prevail today, even though we have more than enough evidence to prove otherwise?
Modern flat Earth beliefs can be traced back to 19th century inventor Samuel Rowbotham, who claimed that his theory of zetetic astronomy proved that our planet was a flat disc centred around the north pole. His ideas would later be shared by prominent flat-Earthers of the time such as William Carpenter.
So, what is the best way to deal with a flat-Earther? Ignore them or pull out a wealth of facts and evidence?
Not always.
Flat Earthers will likely say these are doctored. (TikTok / spacemanedu)
SUNY astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter previously argued in an a piece for Space.com that the modern belief in a flat Earth stems from a ‘lack of trust’ towards scientists and experts.
“By claiming that Earth is flat, people are really expressing a deep distrust of scientists and science itself,” he writes.
“So if you find yourself talking to a flat-Earther, skip the evidence and arguments and ask yourself how you can build trust.”
Flat earther leaves interviewer frustrated over his theory on the sun
Your head will probably hurt after listening to this.
Flat earthers are an interesting bunch because despite all the evidence that you show them that our planet is a globe, they just reject it.
While there is a general agreement on some issues within the flat earth community, believers can come up with their own theories and conspiracies.
That was made very apparent when comedian Jason Selvig interviewed a bloke outside a Flat Earth Convention in New York.
He told The Good Liars host that there are billions of suns.
“When you say the Sun, there is no the Sun,” he said. “Everybody has their own sun.”
Let’s pause for a second.
This man wasn’t trying to be symbolic or anything. He 100 per cent believes that everyone has a sun in the sky.
“There’s a different sun for everybody,” he added.
You could see Selvig get frustrated and confused by the conspiracy, because how the hell would there be multiple suns without everyone knowing about it.
The comedian asked: “So, how many suns are there?”
The Flat-Earther said: “As many people who are viewing it.”
Cool, cool, cool.
He explained that the sun is only 50 miles above the surface of the earth, which would pose loads of problems for everyone.
martinwimmer/Getty Images
Considering just how hot the centre of our solar system is, having the sun that close to us would eviscerate everything in existence.
Even for Mercury, who is the closest planet to the sun, light appears 11 times brighter than on Earth, and that planet is still a casual 69.5 million kilometres from it.
But the sun being 50 miles away from us wasn’t the only outrageous claim from this flat earther.
He said the big ball in the centre of us is actually cold (yes, really), and that the closer you get to it, the further it moves away.
Okay, so to summarise: there are apparently more than eight billion suns in the sky on a flat earth and it’s actually cold instead of bursting with heat.
He wasn’t able to explain how our planet then remains so warm or why it’s hot when you step into the sun’s rays.
But there in lies the heart of flat earthers is that they aren’t to back up any of these silly claims with hard proof.
They are very happy to try and debunk official images from NASA or other experts, however when they’re asked for a shred of proof for their own ideas, they crumble.
