PHYSICAL SCIENCE

Earth is not the center of the Universe at all

The Greeks knew that the Earth is Spherical

Around 500 B.C., most Greeks believed that the Earth was
round, not flat. It was Pythagoras and his pupils who were
first to propose a spherical Earth. In 500 to 430 B.C.,
Anaxagoras further supported Pythagoras' proposal through
his observations of the shadows that the Earth cast on the
Moon during a lunar eclipse. He observed that during a
lunar eclipse, the Earth's shadow was reflected on the
Moon's surface. The shadow reflected was circular.
Around 340 B.C., Aristotle listed several arguments for a
spherical Earth which included the
positions of the North star, the shape of the Moon and the
Sun, and the disappearance of the
ships when they sail over the horizon.
The Shape of the Sun and the Moon
Aristotle argued that if the Moon and the Sun were both spherical,
then perhaps, the Earth was
also spherical.

Disappearing Ships
If the Earth was flat, then a ship traveling away from an observer
should become smaller and
smaller until it disappeared. However, the Greeks observed that
the ship became smaller and then
its hull disappeared first before the sail as if it was being
enveloped by the water until it completely
disappeared.
The Size of the Spherical Earth

Ancient scholars tried to provide proof of a spherical Earth and its

circumference through calculations. It was Eratosthenes who gave
the most accurate size during their time. While he was working at
the Library of Alexandria in Northern Egypt, he received
correspondence from Syene in Southern Egypt which stated that a
vertical object did not cast any shadow at noontime during the
summer solstice. But this was not the case in Alexandria where, at
noon time during the summer solstice, a vertical object still casts a
shadow.
The idea of Greeks regarding terrestrial motion as highly
influenced by the thoughts of Aristotle. His philosophy was
far more speculative than experimental. In Aristotle’s world,
everything on Earth had its appointed place and function.
Every object in this world could be categorized under the
following four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Let us
say, for example, a rock. It is made mostly of earth and
water.
The concept of the spherical Earth dates back to around the
6th century B.C. in ancient Indian philosophy and ancient
Mediterranean thought. Aristotle supported the idea of a
spherical Earth.

He provided physical and observational arguments

regarding this matter. He observed that every
portion of Earth tends toward the center until, by
convergence or compression, they form a sphere.
Ancient Greek Astronomy and Cosmology
As the stars move across the sky each night people of the
world have looked up and wondered about their place in the
universe. Throughout history civilizations have developed
unique systems for ordering and understanding the
heavens. Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers developed
systems that became the basis for Greek astronomy, while
societies in the Americas, China and
India developed their own.
Ancient Greek astronomers' work is richly documented in
the collections of the Library of Congress
largely because of the way the Greek tradition of inquiry
was continued by the work of Islamic
astronomers and then into early modern European
astronomy.
The Sphere of the Earth

By the 5th century B.C., it was widely accepted that the

Earth is a sphere. This is a critical point, as there is a
widespread misconception that ancient peoples thought the
Earth was flat. This was simply not the case.
In the 5th century B.C.,
Empedocles and Anaxagoras
offered arguments for the
spherical nature of the Earth.
During a lunar eclipse, when the
Earth is between the sun and the
moon, they identified the shadow
of the Earth on the moon. As the
shadow moves across the moon
it is clearly round. This would
suggest that the Earth is a
sphere.
One of the strongest pieces of
evidence of the shape of the
Earth came through
interpretation of a lunar eclipse.
During an eclipse we see the
shadow of the Earth on the
moon. This looks like the image
at the top. If the Earth were
triangular, one would expect the
shadow of the Earth to
look like a triangle. Diagrams of
solar eclipse, from Universal
Geography, 1711. Geography
and Maps Division.
Experiencing the Sphere of the Earth

Given that opportunities for observations of a lunar eclipse do not

come along that often, there was also evidence of the roundness of
the earth in the experiences of sailors.
When a ship appears on the horizon it's the top of the ship that is
visible first. A wide range of astronomy texts over time use this as a
way to illustrate the roundness of the Earth. As the image
suggests this is exactly what one would expect on a spherical Earth.
Measuring the Size of the Earth

Lunar eclipses also allowed for another key understanding

about our home here on Earth. In 3rd Century B.C.,
Aristarchus of Samos reasoned he could figure out the size
of the Earth based on information available during a lunar
eclipse. The diagram at the right illustrates a translation of
his work. The large circle is the sun, the medium circle is
the Earth and the smallest circle is the moon.
Eratosthenes estimated Earth's
circumference around 240 B.C. He
used a different approach, measuring
the shadows cast in Alexandria and
Syene to calculate their angle relative
to the Sun.
There is some dispute on the
accuracy of his calculations as we
don't know exactly how long the
units of measure were. The
measurement however was relatively
close to the actual size of the
Earth.
Aristotle’s Elements and Cosmology

In the tradition of Plato and Empedocles before him,

Aristotle argued that there were four fundamental elements,
fire, air, water and earth. It is difficult for us to fully
understand what this meant as today we think about matter
in very different terms. In Aristotle's system there was no
such thing as void space. All space was filled with some
combination of these elements.
The Elements in Aristotle’s Cosmic Model
In Aristotle's Cosmology, each of these four elements
(earth, water, fire and air) had a weight. Earth was the
heaviest, water less so, and air and fire the lightest.
According to Aristotle the lighter substances moved away
from the center of the universe and the heaver elements
settled into the
center. While these elements attempted to sort themselves
out, to achieve this order, most of experience involved
mixed entities.
In contrast to the terrestrial, the celestial region of the heavens had
a fundamentally different nature. Looking at the night sky the ancient
Greeks found two primary kinds of celestial objects; the fixed stars
and the wandering stars. Think of the night's sky. Most of the visible
objects appear to move at exactly the same speed and present
themselves in exactly the same arrangement night after night.
These are the fixed stars. They appear to move all together.
In this system the entire universe was part of a great
sphere. This sphere was split into two
sections, an outer celestial realm and an inner terrestrial
one. The dividing line between the two
was the orbit of the moon. While the earth was a place of
transition and flux, the heavens were
unchanging.