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Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth: Difference between revisions
Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth (view source)
Revision as of 11:01, 2 October 2016
, 2 October 2016→Oblate and prolate spheroids: clearer image
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Lightyears (talk | contribs) (→Qur'an 79:30 - daha (spread out or ostrich egg?): removed irrelevant parts of lane's lexicon quote. Don't need the stuff from the top & end of the page about a completely different word.) |
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There are two problems with the egg-shaped Earth claim. One is that their statements about the words daha and duhiya are false, as proven further below. But even if they were right about that, it would prove the Qur'an to be incorrect because while the Earth and an ostrich egg are both [[w:spheroid|spheroids]], they are of fundamentally different types of spheroid. | There are two problems with the egg-shaped Earth claim. One is that their statements about the words daha and duhiya are false, as proven further below. But even if they were right about that, it would prove the Qur'an to be incorrect because while the Earth and an ostrich egg are both [[w:spheroid|spheroids]], they are of fundamentally different types of spheroid. | ||
[[File: | [[File:oblate-prolate-ostrich.jpg|left|480|An oblate spheroid (top left), a prolate spheroid (bottom left), and an ostrich egg, which is a prolate spheroid however you hold it]] | ||
The Earth is very nearly, but not absolutely a perfect sphere. It is in fact an oblate spheroid, which means that the radius from its centre to either of its two poles is shorter than the radius to the equator. In other words, there is a [[w:equatorial bulge|very slight bulge]] around the equator. The radius from the centre of the Earth to the north or south poles is 6,357km, and the radius from the centre to the equator is 6,378km, a difference of less than 1 percent. This is caused by the rotation of the Earth around its polar axis, which produces a centripetal force that is greatest at the equator. | The Earth is very nearly, but not absolutely a perfect sphere. It is in fact an oblate spheroid, which means that the radius from its centre to either of its two poles is shorter than the radius to the equator. In other words, there is a [[w:equatorial bulge|very slight bulge]] around the equator. The radius from the centre of the Earth to the north or south poles is 6,357km, and the radius from the centre to the equator is 6,378km, a difference of less than 1 percent. This is caused by the rotation of the Earth around its polar axis, which produces a centripetal force that is greatest at the equator. | ||