is the earth really round/?
816024
The earth's shape is not define.But , Aryabhatta tells that the earth is round.
370975
no one can prove the sun revolves around the earth because the sun doesn't orbit the earth.  the following link may help. http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/barycntr.shtml
44602
Why are any of the planets round?
221116
The doctor who performed the experiment back in the early 1900's found that result once, but he was never able to duplicate the results when he and other doctors tried it again.\n\nSince no one ever duplicated the results, we can assume that the original experiment was flawed in some way (maybe the scale they used was broken).\n\nEven though that 20 oz thing was proven wrong, some people still believe in it. If you look hard enough, you will still find people who believe that the Earth is flat.
455077
The actual shape of the Earth today is an OBLATE SPHEROID. It's a kind of sphere but flatter on two opposite sides. These sides are found at the poles.\n\nThe reason why the world is shaped like so is because of the the Earth's rotation. This spinning occured from the time of the Earth's formation up to this day. Centrifugal force tends to throw more matter in its equator than its poles.
91665
Its more of an elispse, not perfectly round due to the gravitational pull of the oceans by the moon and due to mountains.
375016
I reckon it's a pull; I've found if I fall down outside a pub, I hit the floor, no matter whether it's in Greenwich, UK, or Australia.\nI have to make an assumption, however, that the Earth is round, which seems reasonable as I've been around it a few times.
6036
ok here goes.  the technical scientific name for the shape of the earth which is generally accepted by the scientific community is\n\nOblaite Spheroid \n\nthe earth is not round nor is it flat or pure sphere \n\nit is an oblate spheroid.  however  if you were to either reduce the size of the earth to that of a billiard ball or alternatively increase the size of a billiard ball to that of the earth you would find that even for all its imperfections the earth is actually closer to a perfect sphere than anything man can make. also it would be much Smoother. the planet sized billiard ball would have mountain ranges 100's of times taller than our highest and valleys much lower than our lowest.  \n\nwhy things, i assume you mean cities and such, are not round is that a sphere or spheroid cannot be divided on the surface or otherwise by spheres or circles without intersecting them there would always be some space where the curves pull away from eachother.  you could put a smaller sphere in the empty space but that would only cause the spaces remaining to be smaller and more numerous down to infinity. unless you overlap the spheres /circles but then they arent circles anymore and it would be a waste of space.  \n\nthat all is assuming the world were in fact perfectly smooth which it isn't given things like topography geography and the like. shperes are not the most efficient shapes on earth.  at least not for all applications in fact they can sometimes be the least efficient. \n\nnow some places are and or were circularly built around a central point however usually this was not an economically/ financually/ geophisically  feasable option. again for reasons like coastlines rivers mountains etc.\n\nhope i answered your question withouth boring you to tears\n\nas for the bible saying the earth is flat that isnt true and he needs to read his bible more though he is correct the sun and the rest of the universe does revolve around the earth that at least i believe is biblical though i cant off the top of my head remember exactly where i think not in genesis though\n\nooh and rokon everything in the bible was written by GOD  the bible IS the UNERRANT WORD of GOD
1115991
The ancient greeks knew the earth was round.  They knew it because they watched ships sail off.  Someone with good eyes could see that the ship was going over the horizon, the bottom of the ship dissappeared first.  Also, they knew that an eclipse of the moon showed the shadow of the earth on the moon.  Erastothenes calculated the diameter of the earth in about 200 bc.  He was accurate to about 3%.
1141360
hunnnnnn and i  bet you think ..earth  is flat
993361
Hrmm the problem is "path relative to what frame of reference"?  See, the earth is moving along in a straight line through the curved or warped space of the Sun's gravity well.  But, I guess you're looking for the answer:  straight line.
428337
Ptolemy, Aristotles, Thales, Pythogoras and various others had at different times claimed that the earth was round for a varied number of reasons.\nArchimedes was the first one to physically prove that the Earth is round.
967418
yes there are straight lines. what you describe is according to the earth and the solar systems that appear round due to the force that acts from all directions creating a universal container (the sphere) which is round. But look at the BIGGER picture a straight line has to exist even if it is as small as an atom (universe - meter scale). also there are other geometrical forms. infact the only reason why round is soo common in all universal shapes (objects). well think of all forces acting on a body from all sides then reason the kind of shape it will produce when all forces level out the object.
129672
Ha, good one!  The ancients belived that the sky was a solid dome (firmament), and the stars, planets, and sun were all attached to it and spun around on rails, or glass spheres.  This was, of course, proved wrong long ago by Copernicus and Galileo, the dawn of the space age only confirmed that their theories were true.
1175270
The earth is round due to its rotation and gravity.  The sphere is a perfect structure.  Think about it, the bubble forms a skin and holds its shape.  Hurricanes are circular, so are whirpools, dustdevils, tornados.
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.
1022265
There is no sideways in space, either.\n\nDirections are relative to perspective. The direction that is down to me is the same direction as up is to people on the other side of this round world.\n\nMaybe the earth is inside-out?