why is the world round?
603151
The Flat Earth Society believes it's flat and the Square Earth Society believes it's square.\nhttp://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/flaterth.html\nhttp://home.netcom.com/~rogermw/square_earth.html
975517
Every time zone is 1 hour apart\nbecause the earth is round
991212
If you follow astronomy like I do they are discovering everyday that the Solar System is not what we thought it was!  Our Universe actually may look round/spiral but if you tip it on its side it is pretty flat.  The answers relating to gravity are sort of right as well, but scientists have found just recently (few weeks) that some of our planets aren't perfectly round like everybody thought.  As we send more cameras into space the more we realize that what we thought was fact...is wrong!  Scientists are saying "oops" quite a lot this past year or two!  But yes, gravity plays a role, but when you look closely, they are not perfectly round and flat.  They have gigantic craters, mountains pointing up so high we can't even imagine it.  Our telescopes are getting more powerful as the computer age expands our capability.to see so much better.  Its a great field of study, especially today and tomorrow.  Things are changing our perspective on what we thought and what we are learning is the truth.  The sun may appear round, but it is gaseous so bellows, in and out, with flares and cool spots, same with the storms on Jupiter, they just recently realized that the Big Red Spot MOVES! Yep, science was shocked to learn that the Red Spot moves all over the planet!  So study and explore, the Digital Science Channel, and Discovery Channel is what every one should be watching, not The Simpsons, although Bart is a lot more funny.  But science is always changing, nothing ever remains the same!  Become an exployer of the Universe, and get paid for having fun in discovering new stuff all the time!
1059646
Because the circle, in its every form, is the most marbelous shape in the universe.  It really is when you think about it.....
285187
The are round, in short, because it takes the least enegry to do it.\n\nGravity pulls the matter that will make up the planets/sun/... together.  All the forces are pointed towards to the objects center of mass, everything is being pulled inward toward the center.  With everything trying to get as close as possible to the same center of mass, the object develops a round/sphereical shape.  This shape minimizes the amount of potential energy the matter has above the center of mass.\n\nThe reason why some objects (like the Earth for example) as not totally sphereical is because they are roating around an axis.  Since the Earth is rotating on its axis (causing our days and nights), there is a bulge around the equator as the matter located there is rotating faster [tangential speed] than the matter located at the poles.  This faster tangential speed requires more centripetal force [not to be confused with the fictional "centrifugal" force] or order to keep it rotating.  In order to lessen the required force, the matter bulges out a little bid, increasing its radius away from the axis.\nCentripetal force = m(v^2/r),\nyou can see that a larger radius (r) away from the center means a smaller centripetal force is needed.
469675
Planets came from clouds of spinning gases that later solidified.   So they are pretty round, but not exactly spherical.  The earth is around 8,000 miles in diameter.  Black holes are proven.  They were proven using gravity experiments on nearby bodies and light experiments from stars "behind" them when viewed from earth.
47522
In a nutshell, planets are round because they are sufficiently massive to attract all of the material towards the centre.  When a planet forms, it is made of molten rock, that is very much like a liquid.  This liquid rock will try to take the path of least resistence (the shortest path) to the centre.  The only shape that would allow liquid on every spot of the surface the same ammount of effort is a sphere. Today, rocky planets still have molten cores and this shaping process continues.
83349
columbus sailed west to the indies instead of going around africa because he thought it would be faster. most people those days believed the world was flat, but columbus thought the world was round. he went west, but ended up in north america, but he didn't know that. he called the people he saw there indians because he believed he was in the indies.
465729
Two possibilities not previously mentioned: first, phone your various friends around the world, and ask them the time! You will then find out that the sun is at a different height in the sky at different places. So at least the world is not flat, since the sun is very much farther out than the distances between any two points on earth.\n\nSecond, wait for a lunar eclipse. This is the Earth's shadow projected on the moon. It is round. The Earth is not a disk (see first experiment) but casts a round shadow: a sphere seems indicated. In fact, it is a sliughtly flattened sphere (ellipsoid, in fancy language)
114224
Only bodies with a large gravitational mass are round. There is enough gravity to pack it more tightly and this combined with roation of the object forms a round shape. Smaller objects like asteroids, comets and small moons often have irregular shape because there was not enough gravitational mass to compress the object into a round shape
842765
I'm going out on a limb here, but I would say round.  The reason I say round is this.  Way back when, everybody thought the earth was flat, until someone sailed around the world.  What I don't get is the fact we can look up at the sun & moon, and it's plain to see they are round.  Why in the world would those people ever thought the earth was flat, I'll never know.  We are like fish in a bowl, we can see out but can't live out there.  As of now it is impossible for us to ever go that far out of the bowl without it killing us.  I don't think we will ever know the answer to that question, at least not in our lifetime.  Think about it, we can see into the past, and see things that has taken place millions of years ago.  Can we somehow see the other direction, and look into the future?  Maybe!  I too am fasinated by the universe, and wish I had answers to these questions, but since we are so tiny when compared to the universe, I wonder if we are not just a molicule of some giant living thing thats waiting to crawl off.  \nHave Fun.  Good Luck!!!
457528
It is not just round or oval. It is elliptical. One side is close to the sun and one side is closer to the Oort Cloud, or Kuiper Belt, or maybe the heliosphere, the end of the sun's influence to the galaxy.
1069004
For the most part, the atmosphere moves along with the surface of the earth. On the other hand, winds going in any direction tend to grind down mountain peaks.\n\nHowever, if the Earth were not fairly close to round, then the molten lava inside the earth would rupture the crust and deform the earth into a round shape. The main reason the Earth is round is gravity, not wind.
551432
It's just an assumption...\n\ncoz it looks like a sphere... like how the moon looks round...\n\nBut can u be sure!!!
366583
This is because of their centre of gravity.\n\nAll of their constituent mass is  pulled with an even force into the centre of the object....thus the surface of the celestial body is equidistant from the centre...ie. almost spherical.\n\nMany are in fact oval due to the fact that they spin around. This moves some of the mass to the equator of the object....rightly due to centrifugal force.
584265
very simple... money\n\nit makes the world go round
280298
you are stupid. would a computer say that. yes, the earth is round.